


gambling

by amaelamin



Category: VIXX
Genre: Crack, Crushes, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 17:24:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7627294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaelamin/pseuds/amaelamin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It really had started out as a joke: in which the whole of Vixx makes bets on Leo's sexual prowess, Ken is not good enough for maknae extraordinaire Hyuk, Hyuk has a huge crush on Leo, and Ravi and Hongbin are insufferably in love. And Hakyeon plots (and vacuums).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on AFF from 8-22 apr 2015.

“I think I’m going to bump up my bet another ten – no, make that fifteen thousand won,” Hakyeon says to no one in particular as the rest of them sit behind the monitor and watch Taekwoon pose for the photographer.

Hongbin scoffs, not trying to hide it, and Wonsik elbows him, following it with an amused glance.

“Hyung, you do this every time we have a photoshoot and then regret it when we get home.”

“Look at him, though,” Hakyeon argues, and the others all go quiet watching Taekwoon stare at the camera because even though they may feign disinterest, quite a lot of money in total is riding on the outcome of their ridiculous bet that started as a drunken joke and has somehow evolved into a serious running argument. The bet that Taekwoon knows nothing about, and never will, hopefully, because in general the other five members aren’t big fans of violence.

“What’s different this time?” Hongbin asks stubbornly because he’s betting against Hakyeon, and so is Jaehwan who nods in agreement with Hongbin, sighing obnoxiously. “He’s still just doing his death laser eye thing which, okay, some fans find hot but that means absolutely nothing-”

Jaehwan immediately mimics what he thinks Taekwoon’s signature glare is, and both Wonsik and Sanghyuk dissolve into giggles.

“I mean is he trying to seduce them or fight them or what-”

“ _Shh!_ ” Hakyeon warns, Sanghyuk and Wonsik still laughing. “Shut up, Jaehwan. I mean he’s learning to work it, you know? Learning to be more comfortable, realizing how sexy he can be. Remember how awful he used to be in photoshoots?”

“I used to be awful too,” Sanghyuk says inconsequentially, and Hongbin pets him fondly.

“He knows how to bring out his inner sex kitten now,” Wonsik and Jaehwan wince at the phrase, but Hakyeon ignores them. “He just looked angry before.”

“He looks angry _now_ ,” Hongbin argues, refusing to concede the point. “Anyway, I can never see what this has to do with how he is in bed. No matter how good the photos you take are it doesn’t translate into real action in the sheets.”

“Yeah, Wonsik would know,” Hakyeon snipes back, finally annoyed. “What’s the use of having you for such a pretty boyfriend when he needs a magnifying glass to find your-”

“Okay!” the photographer calls out and Taekwoon starts bowing to everyone in thanks, hands immediately flying to hold his floaty too-loose shirt to his chest so he wouldn’t accidentally flash anyone as he bowed. Through the red-hot glare Hongbin’s giving him Hakyeon can practically feel how many layers Taekwoon is aching to put on to make up for three hours of sitting around with his shoulders and chest on display.

“See? He’s practically a nun,” Jaehwan hisses as they get up to go, Sanghyuk following close behind.

“You can’t judge him by your own standards, hyung,” Sanghyuk tells him serenely. “You’re just a slut.”

Jaehwan opens his mouth to protest, but then shrugs. You can’t argue with the truth.

They collect Taekwoon, and leave.

_Bet total:_

Taekwoon is a sex god – Hakyeon 350 000 won, Sanghyuk 60 000 won, Wonsik 113 420 won.

Taekwoon is completely hopeless in bed and is a disappointment to the world – Jaehwan 410 000 won, Hongbin 190 100 won.

*

It really had started out as a joke.

Taekwoon was off doing his musical and the remaining five of them had somehow wound up at a barbecue restaurant at two am, chugging soju and grilled pork belly and trying to keep Sanghyuk from drinking all the alcohol; Hakyeon’s promise to their manager to ‘bring the kids home safe and early’ totally forgotten. They were at the stage of the night where Wonsik and Hongbin were trying very hard not to stare sappily into each other’s eyes and Hakyeon thought that what they really needed, right then, was to search for hardcore porn fanfic of themselves.

“Ohoho,” Hakyeon clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes squinting to try and focus on the words on his phone through his soju buzz. “Our favourite author has a new one out. Ken/Leo this time.”

Jaehwan groaned, letting his head thunk onto Hakyeon’s shoulder. “I bet it’s me getting fucked. It’s always me getting fucked.”

Hakyeon quickly scanned the story. “Without lube too,” he says a moment later, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing. “Oh my god, oh my god, listen - _Leo smirked at Ken lying trembling underneath him. Ken’s eyes widened at the sight of Leo’s big cock, the older male pulling Ken’s legs open wide so he could see_ – oh my god, _so he could see Ken’s pink entrance quivering in anticipation-_ ”

“I AM TRYING TO EAT,” Sanghyuk put his chopsticks down, turning to stare at the two of them dying of laughter over the kimchi.

“I didn’t know I had a pink entrance,” Jaehwan was saying. “I’d have preferred a blue one, or maybe green. I like green.”

“Why the fuck do you want a green asshole,” Hakyeon was nearly in tears, the soju making everything ten times more hilarious.

“Hongbin, what colour is your asshole? Mine’s pink,” Jaehwan called over to him, making Hakyeon collapse again in a fresh bout of crying-laughing, and Wonsik and Hongbin stopped their not-making-out to stare at their hyungs.

“Hey, maybe it’s just me but I always thought it was an exit, not an entrance. My whole life has been a lie,” Jaehwan continued, and Sanghyuk put his chopsticks down for the second time that night, trying extremely hard to keep a straight face.

“ _Hyung_.”

Once Hakyeon could speak again he wiped at his eyes and put away his phone. “Isn’t it insane how the fans think Taekwoon’s some sex beast? Every single fanfic, I swear to god.”

“Has he ever been with anyone, even?” Wonsik asked, Hongbin and him emerging from their own little world.

The other four turned to look at Hakyeon, who raised his hands in defense. “Hey, what? Do you honestly think he’d tell me something like that?”

“He tells you everything else,” Hongbin said, and Sanghyuk nodded, chewing. Apparently his appetite had returned.

“Well, not that. Though, honestly? I don’t think he’d really be that bad in bed. Not bad at all, actually.”

Hongbin’s laugh was a shout, giving Wonsik a bit of a shock. “Hyung, you have _got_ to be kidding. I love Taekwoon hyung but I really pity the person who ends up having to fuck him. He’d probably go hide under the bed or something.”

“I’m not! Seriously. I would bet real money.”

“How much?” Jaehwan asked, eyes twinkling, and then it all went downhill from there.

*

It’s hard to explain how seriously not-seriously they took the bet. Two or three of them would have hurried whispered conversations during dance practice, after music video filming, at idol sports events, after performances; urgent as if it was a matter of life and death. The bet money increased and decreased from week to week till it reached ridiculous heights, all of them potentially owing hundreds of thousands of won except Sanghyuk who never spent money unless he could help it. It became a normal part of life, discussing Taekwoon’s sexual prowess using whatever so-called evidence they could get their hands on no matter how ridiculous and irrelevant, and Taekwoon miraculously never found out.

“What are you talking about?” Taekwoon asked in his usual tiny voice, and Jaehwan and Hongbin casually leaned apart on the sofa of their dorm. “Photography tips,” Hongbin replied, not batting an eyelid. Taekwoon turned on the TV.

“Was that anything important Hakyeon was telling you in the van?” Taekwoon nudged Sanghyuk, who blinked and pretended to think. “Honestly, hyung, I can’t remember. You know how he goes on and on.” Taekwoon lightly knocked Sanghyuk’s head, a trademark gesture Sanghyuk had come to grudgingly – secretly – like. Taekwoon put in his earbuds and settled back into his seat.

It really was all a joke, something to keep them occupied, something that was so strange and so absurd that it was absolutely theirs and theirs alone. Nothing else bonds you like an inside joke, after all, and they all reassured themselves that constantly thinking about their band member having sex wasn’t that weird. Weird, but not _that_ weird.

“How would we ever verify this, anyway,” Jaehwan sulked one night when Taekwoon had snuck off to see his newborn nephew and the rest of them were stuck in the dorm, thinking sadly of his now-five hundred thousand-won stake. “Knowing him I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still a virgin and is waiting for his wedding night. And none of us are going to dare to ask his wife how good he is, let’s be real. And as if she’d even tell us.”

They were in various positions on the living room floor and sofa, Jaehwan lying in Hakyeon’s lap with his feet poking at Wonsik’s side, Hongbin and Sanghyuk both at Wonsik’s feet and leaning on his legs and each other.

(“Puppies,” Taekwoon said once to their manager, watching them naturally pile together like they were an interesting social experiment.

“And you’re a kitten,” the manager had replied without thinking, only to be silently glared at.)

“Jaehwan,” Hakyeon laughed. “What are you even talking about?”

“Five hundred thousand won, hyung,” Jaehwan whined, and play-kicked at Wonsik, which led to a tussle that everyone immediately joined in on and distracted them all for the next five minutes. They settled back down again once the kickfight had been won amidst much shouting and giggling [Sanghyuk, Hakyeon, Jaehwan; Hongbin and Wonsik didn’t stand a chance] and Jaehwan continued his sulking.

“Do you know what I could buy with five hundred thousand won?”

“Endless amounts of gopchang for me,” Sanghyuk interjected, and Jaehwan pushed away his eager face with a socked foot.

“No one’s coming near my winnings. If I win this bet I am going to firstly – I am going to-“

“You don’t even know,” Wonsik scoffed. “If I win it I’m going to-“

“Nobody wants to know about the sex toys you’re going to buy for Hongbin,” Hakyeon said blandly, and Wonsik, Hongbin and Sanghyuk all started screaming at the same time for all different reasons while Jaehwan high-fived Hakyeon.

“If I win this bet I can buy my own sex toys,” Hongbin waited till Sanghyuk had stopped screaming to say, and the rest of them laughed themselves to tears at Sanghyuk’s utterly defeated face.

“I’m going to join BTOB,” Sanghyuk said once his hyungs stopped laughing.

“Nobody wants you, Hyuk. Only we love you.”

“I bet BTOB doesn’t have insane bets like these.”

“A bet about a bet?” Jaehwan teased, eyes twinkling. “You bet they don’t have bets? Better to bet about our bets-” Hakyeon clamped a hand over Jaehwan’s mouth.

“By the way, Hyukkie,” Hakyeon cut in smoothly. “I never asked you why you think your Taekwoon hyung would be good in bed.”

Sanghyuk’s mouth seized up when he saw the telltale twinkle in Hakyeon’s eye. _Goddammit. No. No way._ “No real reason,” he tried to be nonchalant, but Hakyeon was smiling now, that cat-got-the-mouse smile of his. Hakyeon _knew_. How long had Hakyeon known? “Why?” He challenged, watching Hakyeon carefully, willing himself not to blush at having his crush inexplicably found out. He’d been so _careful_!

“I was just curious to know your reasons for thinking your hyung is a good lover. After all, you’re still practically a baby, and a virgin… But then again you have always been quite interested in Taekwoon.” Hakyeon trailed off, and Sanghyuk instantly wanted to murder him. String him up by his thumbs! Wedgie him to death!

Sanghyuk’s cheeks started to flame and he wanted to yell that his age and inexperience had absolutely nothing to do with anything and Hakyeon knew damn well they didn’t, because all Hakyeon was trying to do was fluster him enough to give himself away. The sound of his other hyungs making idiotic ‘ooooooo’ noises at him – did everybody know??? – was making it hard for him to think, and Hakyeon was still smirking.

“So what?” came Sanghyuk’s supremely witty rejoinder, embarrassed to the roots of his hair.

Hakyeon shrugged, the very picture of innocence.

“If you ever want to rid yourself of your pesky virginity my door is always open,” Jaehwan made lascivious eyebrows Sanghyuk’s way, and was immediately hit by the other three, making him curl up to fend them off.

“He deserves better than you,”Hongbin scolded, and Jaehwan was pained to see that he was actually serious.

“What’s wrong with me?” Jaehwans protested, pride stung, and Hongbin just gave him a Look. “I’d treat him right,” he argued, and Sanghyuk was literally about to give up on life because Jaehwan and Hongbin were seriously discussing the pros and cons of Jaehwan taking his virginity and Hakyeon was _still_ watching him with that I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR EMBARRASSING SCHOOLBOY CRUSH ON TAEKWOON glint in his eye even as he laughed at Jaehwan and Hongbin’s bickering, Wonsik butting in ever so often to put in a word of support for Jaehwan just to annoy Hongbin.

“Hyung, if you’re so willing to jump into bed with your own band member why don’t you be the one to find out how good Taekwoon hyung is?” Sanghyuk snapped at Jaehwan, Hakyeon’s gaze unnerving him and making his tone sharper than he intended.

“Sorry, Hyuk-ah,” Jaehwan apologized immediately, almost falling off the sofa in his haste to soothe Sanghyuk’s feelings by drowning him in a bear hug, thinking that he’d taken the joke too far. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

Sanghyuk put up a show of fending Jaehwan off, struggling out of his arms until Jaehwan sat loosely spooning him in a gentle backhug, resting his cheek on one of Sanghyuk’s shoulderblades. “All of you are crazy,” Sanghyuk observed, to identical leers from Wonsik and Hongbin.

“Jaehwan wouldn’t be a good choice,” Hakyeon said, giving no sign he heard Sanghyuk. “He’d annoy Taekwoon so much Taekwoon’d probably kill him.”

“Which would not be such a terrible loss,” Hongbin said, earning a sad puppydog look from Jaehwan.

“Wonsik and Hongbin are clearly out of the question seeing as they’re probably the most disgusting couple on earth,” Hakyeon continued, to a muffled “they could try a threesome” from behind Sanghyuk, Sanghyuk immediately elbowing Jaehwan in the ribs.

“And he’d never believe I was actually interested in him,” Hakyeon finished off, and Sanghyuk wanted to die, the next words out of Hakyeon’s mouth predictable from miles off. “So the only candidate is you, my son, our pride and joy, our golden child, our precious baby-”

Sanghyuk stood up, discarding Jaehwan’s arms around him like he was shrugging off a jacket. “Goodnight,” he announced with dignity, and marched off.

*

Sanghyuk was making coffee for himself the next morning when he became slowly aware of Hakyeon leaning on the kitchen counter watching him without a word. Jaehwan and Hongbin had waking-Wonsik-up duty that day, and it seemed to be taking longer than usual. (Sanghyuk heard Hongbin’s voice raised in an exasperated cry of “Wake up, you asshole!” from Wonsik’s room, and thought there might be trouble in paradise.)

“I’m not speaking to you,” he declared to Hakyeon, voice still sleep-rough. “That was not funny, what you did last night.”

“So you’re annoyed ‘cos it’s true?” Hakyeon asked grinning, and Sanghyuk cursed himself for not being able to deny it for some godforsaken reason. He settled for looking grumpy in answer and stomped away with his mug of coffee, Hakyeon following closely in glee.

“I knew it. I am so good at this.”

“It’s nothing, okay? It’ll disappear in a few weeks.”

“When you’ve already been liking him for months now?” Hakyeon baited Sanghyuk, carefully lowering his voice. “It’s obvious when you know what to look out for.”

“I have _not_ -” Sanghyuk began hotly, but stopped when a door opened before them to reveal a blinking sleep-mussed Taekwoon who zeroed in on the coffee in Sanghyuk’s hands like a caffeine-deprived moth to a flame.

“Oh,” he said, and took the mug from Sanghyuk in one hand as he cupped Sanghyuk’s neck in thanks with the other before shuffling off.

Sanghyuk was left blinking too, the feel of Taekwoon’s cool fingers gently caressing him fondly leaving him stunned for a moment.

“That’s my coffee,” he managed to say belatedly, turning in the direction Taekwoon went only to see Hakyeon with both hands clapped to his mouth trying to hold in his squee at the brief but strangely intimate display of affection.

Sanghyuk frowned at Hakyeon for a second and then opened his mouth to yell. “Kongie hyung! Hakyeon hyung’s bullying me!”

“Hit him!” came the reply from inside the room Taekwoon’d just vacated. Hakyeon bustled off to murder Hongbin which was what Sanghyuk wanted, but Hakyeon was subsequently replaced by a more awake-looking Taekwoon (awake because of _my coffee,_ Sanghyuk thought) and Sanghyuk wasn’t sure this was an improvement because Taekwoon was wearing one of his softest sleep shirts, the one that smelled so intensely of him – don’t ask how Sanghyuk knew that – and he was holding out a packet of bread, wordlessly nudging Sanghyuk with it.

“You should eat something, Hyuk-ah,” he said with his quiet voice and serious eyes, and when Sanghyuk took the bread Taekwoon reached over to steer him by the shoulders to the living room. “Sit down and eat,” he said, and disappeared back into the room where the others were still trying to wake Wonsik and where presumably Hakyeon was murdering Hongbin.

Sanghyuk sighed, and opened the packet.

*

“Five hundred thousand won, Hyuk-ah, think of all the snacks I could buy you with five hundred thousand won,” Jaehwan leaned back to whisper in Sanghyuk’s direction in the van and jerked backwards just in time before Sanghyuk aimed a snarling bite at his nose. Sanghyuk chomped his teeth at Jaehwan a few more times for good measure, Jaehwan looking disappointed as if Sanghyuk had just let down his entire family and all his ancestors. “That’s not a very can-do attitude, Han Sanghyuk.”

“He just needs the right motivation,” Hakyeon chimed in, twisting around, _and he wasn’t even bothering to whisper_ causing Sanghyuk’s heart to jump into his throat as he darted a nervous look at the back of Taekwoon’s head in the seat in front where the hyung line always sat, Jaehwan and Hakyeon grinning sickly sweet at him over the back of the seat. “Aren’t I right, Hyukkie?”

“Stop it,” Wonsik laughingly told the two, seeing the panic on Sanghyuk’s face but assuming it was just from the general fear of Taekwoon finding out about the bet.

Taekwoon turned around to face them with a quietly inquisitive look on his face – after all this time they had learnt how to differentiate ‘quiet and curious’ from ‘quiet and bored’ and ‘quiet and angry’ and ‘quiet and shy’ and ‘quiet and amused’ – and Sanghyuk had to force himself to calm down. _Oh my goddddd Taekwoon hyung looks so good today_ vied with _that’s it I’m going to kill Hakyeon hyung_ and _if Jaehwan hyung mentions his five hundred thousand won to me again I’m going to stuff him into a trash can_ and ended up blurting “I’m going to sleep now wake me up when we get there” too loudly before he threw himself backwards into his seat and shut his eyes tight. The other four collapsed in giggles till Taekwoon gave up on them and turned back around, closing his eyes for a nap as well.

Sanghyuk had peace for all of two minutes, his cheeks burning fiercely, until Hongbin took his arm and leaned close. “Do the right thing, Hyukkie. Take one for the team.”

_Jaehwan hyung was going to have company in his trash can._

*

By unspoken agreement, Mission Get Sanghyuk to Seduce Taekwoon So That We Can Win Our Money ( _Five Hundred Thousand Won!! – Jaehwan_ ) was launched with the utmost urgency. Sanghyuk wasn’t even sure what was a joke and what was reality anymore as his hyungs devoted themselves to insane measures that had him half weak with laughter and half just weak with embarrassment and apprehension because apparently nobody in Vixx knew the meaning of ‘absurd’:

 _Monday_ \- Jaehwan wrestling Sanghyuk into the bedroom Taekwoon was reading in and fighting with him to unzip Sanghyuk’s pants (“Just drop your pants in front of him! Now is not the time to play it coy!”) while Taekwoon watched them writhe on the floor impassively over his lowered book, Sanghyuk finally calling out in desperation for help when Jaehwan managed to undo the button on his jeans and was yanking them down over his hips despite Sanghyuk’s best defensive manouevres. Taekwoon got up and easily pulled Jaehwan off Sanghyuk, Jaehwan struggling for a moment, still intent on getting Sanghyuk’s pants off until he realized what was happening. He stilled for a moment, grinning at Taekwoon, and then ran out the door without a word leaving Sanghyuk on the floor panting with his jeans undone and open and his shirt pushed halfway up his stomach. Sanghyuk immediately got to his feet, blushing furiously, and pulled his jeans up properly before doing up the zip and button. Taekwoon gave him an odd look before briefly running his fingers through Sanghyuk’s hair, an affectionate ‘you’re welcome but now go be weird elsewhere’.

 _Wednesday_ – Sanghyuk opening his laptop to find his homepage changed to a youtube playlist of fancams of Taekwoon dancing to Light Up the Darkness and Eternity. _Wonsik hyung._ The majority of them focused on Taekwoon’s body waves in Eternity and the booty popping move in Light Up the Darkness Taekwoon had repeatedly died of embarrassment over when the choreographer had shown it to him; Sanghyuk ended up watching all of them, mouth going a little dry and pants going a little tight.

 _Thursday_ – Hakyeon had a new mantra; The Power of Suggestion.

“Hyukkie has such gorgeous legs, I wish I had thighs like that. Look at him filling out those jeans. Don’t you think?” Taekwoon blinked, obediently following Hakyeon’s gaze to where Sanghyuk was sitting in their music show waiting room obliviously playing a game on his phone.

“He has nice legs,” Taekwoon answered uncertainly.

“Thighs you can really grab on to, you know what I mean?”

Taekwoon nodded slowly, wondering what the hell Hakyeon was up to now.

-

Hakyeon made sure to sit on the other side of Sanghyuk on the sofa, sending urgent eye signals to Wonsik to get out of the way and let Taekwoon sit on Sanghyuk’s other side during their monthly Grand General Assembly (a monthly meeting Hakyeon insisted on with everyone in pajamas and unhealthy snacks at the ready). He casually slung an arm over Sanghyuk’s shoulders while he spoke, fingers gently caressing and massaging Sanghyuk’s neck. Eye contact with Taekwoon, check. Sanghyuk sitting directly in Taekwoon’s eyeline, check. Taekwoon having a thing for Sanghyuk’s neck that only Hakyeon and Hakyeon alone had noticed, check.

Hakyeon asked Taekwoon a question, running his fingers down Sanghyuk’s neck almost until they disappeared into the wide collar of the ratty hoodie he liked to wear to sleep. Taekwoon’s gaze flickered, following the path Hakyeon’s fingers took as he ran them up to Sanghyuk’s ear again, and as Hakyeon cheered internally he wondered if he could get away with tracing them over Sanghyuk’s adam’s apple. Sanghyuk was getting squirmy as it was, never one for sustained amounts of touching. Hakyeon experimentally moved his hand away, sliding it down Sanghyuk’s arm, and Taekwoon’s eyes followed that too before he remembered to answer Hakyeon’s question, eyes flicking back up. _Quite Easily Done_.

-

 _Friday_ – (And this one was the absolute worst.)

They were sitting in a circle on the floor of their dorm in the middle of the night playing a ridiculous game and Sanghyuk was quite happily drunk. ‘Just one bottle’ of soju had turned into two, then three and four, and then on into exponential numbers and Sanghyuk had never been very good at math. Sanghyuk didn’t know. Sanghyuk didn’t care. Sanghyuk was so happy and he loved his hyungs so much and he never ever wanted to be apart from them.

“The next person who loses has to kiss Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan grinned, and then instantly lost on purpose. Hongbin cursed him out, legitimately indignant at what he called Jaehwan’s ‘shameless plan to deflower our innocent child’, face red and planting himself in front of Sanghyuk to defend his honour from Jaehwan. The innocent child in question sat there beaming and overflowing with affection for the hyung that liked him so much he wanted to kiss him and the hyung that wanted to valiantly protect him from hyungs that liked him so much they wanted to kiss him.

Hakyeon started laughing at the sappy look on Sanghyuk’s face. “You’re really gone this time. I told you to eat more at dinner,” he told Sanghyuk, himself the only sober one.

“Not as gone as Wonsik hyung,” Sanghyuk protested. Wonsik was boneless, propped up on one side by an extremely red Taekwoon and the other by a large stuffed toy Hongbin had shoved at him to stop him from draping himself all over Hongbin. He would occasionally giggle at something someone had said.

“Is Taekwoon alive or has he died with his eyes open?” Hakyeon asked suddenly, and Sanghyuk should have known it was a set-up. But he was drunk. “He hasn’t said anything in fifteen minutes. Go nudge him now, right now.”

So Sanghyuk nudged him at the same time it just so happened it was his turn at the game and Taekwoon, often useless at games when sober and absolutely hopeless when intoxicated, blinked a few times caught in the terrible dilemma of remembering how to play the game and answering an insistent Sanghyuk. He turned to face Sanghyuk, and the living room erupted in cheers.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

“What?” Taekwoon asked, still blinking.

“You missed your turn. You have to kiss Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon informed him helpfully, one hand on Sanghyuk’s arm in case he tried to run away. Sanghyuk had no such intentions; he was laughing uncontrollably at Jaehwan’s supremely indignant protests at ‘this blatant favouritism’ of everyone supporting Taekwoon kissing their youngest but acting as if Jaehwan was a leper to be kept far away from the precious virgin high priestess Han Sanghyuk, and Taekwoon’s constant blinking and complete ‘bzuh?’ face was comedy dynamite as far as Sanghyuk was concerned. Oh, his hyungs. He loved his hyungs.

Sanghyuk got to his knees, hands out in a conciliatory gesture and beaming. “There’s enough of me to go around,” he said magnanimously, and leaned over to Jaehwan first, kissing him full on the mouth to a scandalized gasp from Hongbin. Hongbin covered Wonsik’s eyes.

Sanghyuk then leaned over to Taekwoon and kissed him sweetly, Taekwoon’s wide-open eyes getting bigger the closer Sanghyuk got making him erupt in a giggle fit at the last minute so that he had to support himself by holding on to Taekwoon’s broad shoulders. He was vaguely aware of Taekwoon’s long fingers circling both his wrists as the kiss ended, Hakyeon coming to pull him away with loud declarations of Sanghyuk clearly needing to go to bed. Taekwoon was still blinking, which was just the most hilarious thing in existence.

Sanghyuk remembered Hakyeon forcing him to drink a full glass of water and then tucking him into bed. And then nothing.

*

“Well, well, well.” Hakyeon’s voice was the first thing Sanghyuk heard the next morning as he stirred awake. He opened his eyes to see Hakyeon lounging next to him in bed and smugly holding out a glass of water which he grabbed, thirsty as all hell.

“Where’s Wonsik hyung?” he rasped, eyeing the empty bed next to his. There’s no way Wonsik would be up before him.

“Where do you think?” Hakyeon replied, gesturing with his head to the room next door where the other four of them slept. “I slept in here. He wouldn’t leave Hongbin, and I wasn’t going to spend the night in a room with those two. I wonder how Jaehwan and Taekwoon survived,” he continued, watching Sanghyuk closely.

_Jaehwan and Taekwoon._

Sanghyuk stilled, eyes flicking to Hakyeon’s, and Hakyeon began to grin.

“Did I really kiss Jaehwan hyung?” Sanghyuk asked slowly, giving the glass back to Hakyeon as memories started to roll back.

“Oh, yes,” Hakyeon replied, having too much fun.

“Did I really kiss Taekwoon hyung?” Sanghyuk’s voice was smaller this time, and at Hakyeon’s gleeful nod he buried his face in his hands. “Oh, my god.”

“You’re something else when you’re really drunk. Completely sober in all other respects but suddenly you’re doling out kisses – kisses on the mouth, full kisses, mind you, and you’re lucky to have pulled away when you did before Jaehwan slipped you tongue – and talking about how much you love everyone and how everyone’s so gorgeous and wonderful and talented and Taekwoon is the most amazing person you’ve ever met in your life-”

“I said that?” Sanghyuk demanded urgently, gripping Hakyeon’s arm. “Hyung!”

“If it helps he blushed very prettily and said thank you. Such a polite boy, Jung Taekwoon.”

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk wailed, falling back onto his pillow. He’d actually kissed Taekwoon, and Taekwoon had sat there and let Sanghyuk kiss him. “How am I supposed to go out and face him now?”

“At least you didn’t confess your undying love for him, that’s a plus,” Hakyeon got up out of Sanghyuk’s bed and ignored the face Sanghyuk made at him. “Get dressed and have breakfast. You’re going to need your strength to fend Jaehwan off now after what you did last night. Unless… wait-”

Hakyeon trailed off as if a brilliant idea had just hit him, and Sanghyuk surged out of bed in a panic to halt whatever devious plan was taking place in his mind.

“No, no, no,” Sanghyuk babbled desperately, batting at Hakyeon’s chest to get his attention. “I’m in this mess because of all of you trying to throw me and Taekwoon hyung together. Hyung, please, stop it before I completely humiliate myself.”

“But Hyuk, you have to listen, it’s so good-”

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk pleaded. “What is this even about anymore? The bet? Or just because it’s funny to you?”

Hakyeon’s face softened as he looked at Sanghyuk, and he sat down on the bed next to him once more, pulling him into a gentle hug that Sanghyuk felt was properly apologetic.

“Your future happiness, Sanghyuk, and my four hundred thousand won,” Hakyeon whispered tenderly into his hair, and Sanghyuk kicked Hakyeon off the bed.

*

Sanghyuk found out what Hakyeon’s latest diabolical operation was – to actually win the bet? Give Sanghyuk a heart attack? Cause general mayhem to amuse himself? Who the fuck knew anymore? – two days later, when Jaehwan sidled up to him during lunch and started fondling his bare thigh, the shorts Sanghyuk was wearing riding up as Jaehwan slid his hand up the soft inside.

Sanghyuk leveled a stare at him, unimpressed, but Jaehwan continued eating as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The hand on his thigh was almost possessive, proprietary; for all Jaehwan’s acting like he sincerely wanted to get into Sanghyuk’s pants they both knew it was just fooling around, but this – this was new.

“Hyung?” Sanghyuk asked, a raised eyebrow in his voice.

“Shut up, Hyukkie. Taekwoon hyung’s watching.”

Taekwoon hyung – Sanghyuk forced himself not to turn around straight away, but when he casually-on-purpose looked up at Taekwoon he wasn’t paying them any attention at all, wolfing down his lunch instead.

“No, he isn’t,” Sanghyuk argued, wondering if the weird feeling in his stomach was relief or disappointment.

“He was,” Jaehwan replied, and the conviction in his voice made Sanghyuk go quiet, the weird stomach feeling intensifying.

So Jaehwan followed Sanghyuk around more now than he usually did, draping an arm over his shoulders, playing with his hair, fixing his makeup, inching fingertips under the hem of Sanghyuk’s shirt and into his collar, sitting too-close next to him everywhere they went. Sanghyuk was this close to throwing Jaehwan out of the window of their dorm. It wasn’t hard to understand the theory behind Hakyeon’s plan – it was no secret that Taekwoon was insanely competitive, and he wouldn’t back down without a fight when there was the possibility of him losing. Sanghyuk wondered if it ever even occurred to his hyungs that first Taekwoon had to want to win in this particular situation, Sanghyuk being the questionable prize. This entire _situation_ was completely beyond comprehension by this point – would Taekwoon hyung even get it? Sanghyuk wasn’t sure he himself got it.

Hongbin had taken to rolling his eyes whenever Jaehwan was acting the part of a human barnacle these days, but Wonsik was the only one who looked worried about Sanghyuk’s obvious growing irritation. He was under strict orders from Hakyeon not to interfere, though, so he bought Sanghyuk more snacks and let him use his expensive headphones and escape into his studio whenever it was all getting a bit much. Sanghyuk felt like he’d woken up one day suddenly with an overly-attached clingy boyfriend without any of the benefits and all of the disadvantages – he liked Jaehwan very much, but really, _really_ , not like that – but Jaehwan’s five hundred thousand won fixation and utmost dedication to practical jokes wasn’t going to give him a break anytime soon.

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk protested under his breath, squirming to make Jaehwan let go of him, the arm that had snaked around his waist once the choreographer had announced a break clinging on like an octopus. “Hyung, I told you to stop it-”

“Hyuk-ah,” Taekwoon called from the other side of the room where he was squatting by an electrical socket in the wall charging his phone, soft voice distinctive amidst the chatter of the other members and the backup dancers. “Come here for a while.”

Sanghyuk gratefully detached himself from Jaehwan who’d immediately perked up and almost ran over to Taekwoon, feeling at the back of his mind rather like he was proverbially stepping out of the frying pan into the fire. Jaehwan hyung was suffocating him, and he felt like a huge idiot, and Taekwoon hyung didn’t seem to notice even though everyone kept telling him he did. Did he even want Taekwoon to notice this way? Did he want to help his idiot hyungs win this stupid game when they were playing him like a chess piece? The back of his neck was still prickling when he reached Taekwoon, but for a completely different reason now.

“Yes, hyung?” Sanghyuk asked, and Taekwoon disconnected his phone from the charger.

“Want to go outside? It’s hot,” he answered simply, and Sanghyuk really didn’t know what to say.

They climbed the stairs out of the dance studio to emerge in the dark after Taekwoon grabbed his wallet, the cool night air washing over them instantly and making Sanghyuk shiver a little in the thin shirt he was wearing, welcoming the change. It was easy being with Taekwoon sometimes when you wanted to be quiet and still, because he understood quiet and still so well.

“Should I offer you and Jaehwan congratulations?” Taekwoon asked once they decided on walking to the convenience store, his meaning blatantly obvious, and Sanghyuk wanted to hide in the smallest hole he could find.

“We’re not together, hyung. Jaehwan hyung’s just – he’s just being an idiot,” he answered lamely, muttering the words and not knowing what else to say. How could he possibly explain Jaehwan’s behavior?

Taekwoon raised his eyebrows at Sanghyuk but continued walking in silence.

“Hyuk-ah,” he began, and fiddled with his phone for a second. Taekwoon wasn’t the most confident or smoothest of people, Sanghyuk knew, and right then the apprehension was washing off him in waves. It made Sanghyuk want to tie himself up in knots.

“Are you trying to make me – are you-” Taekwoon stopped, and at the back of his mind Sanghyuk registered that they’d reached the convenience store, but his heart was pounding too fast to care.

“Nevermind. What do you want to eat?”

Sanghyuk followed Taekwoon dumbly into the store, almost sure that Taekwoon was going to ask if Sanghyuk was trying to make him jealous and he was deathly afraid of what that meant. Of course Taekwoon would figure it out – the hyungs might as well have written it in stark red paint all over their dorm what they were trying to do. Nobody was that stupid.

Sanghyuk chose things from the shelves at random and gave them to Taekwoon to pay, his mood dropping alarmingly. He didn’t want to talk or see anyone – it looked like a childish sulk but it was really utter humiliation, just as he knew it would be. He took the bag from Taekwoon to carry as they exited the store, seeing Taekwoon steal looks at him out of the corner of his eye as they began the walk back but the lead in his stomach wasn’t allowing him to pretend he was alright.

They walked back in silence. It was probably around one o’ clock in the morning – more likely later, Sanghyuk thought, and he was glad it wasn’t the middle of the bright afternoon. They finally reached their street and he turned into the short alley that held the door to their dance studio; Taekwoon reached out for him then, a little tentative tug on his sleeve that brought Sanghyuk up short.

“I don’t play games, Hyuk-ah,” Taekwoon said, and it would have been impressive and cool if not for the way Taekwoon stuttered it, and how much effort it was clearly taking him to say it. “Do you need me to tell Jaehwan to stop?”

“Y-Yes,” Sanghyuk answered, taken by surprise. “Please.”

“Okay.”

His tiny speech over, Taekwoon ducked into the studio, leaving Sanghyuk out in the street to do an impassioned ‘I am an idiot and this whole situation is crazy and I don’t know what just happened’ dance of frustration.

*

The day after Taekwoon had taken Jaehwan aside very briefly to tell him he was going too far with his fooling around and Sanghyuk was becoming uncomfortable, very kindly and hyung-like, the others waited with bated breath for the next development. Sanghyuk wasn’t sure what the hell that was meant to be, but judging from what the others were saying it was as if Taekwoon was going to propose marriage any minute because _obviously_  they thought their plan had worked. Sanghyuk took a deep breath every time the subject came up and avoided it like the plague. He was getting really good at non sequiturs.

‘I don’t play games’ – what was that supposed to mean? If Sanghyuk was right and Taekwoon had been about to ask him if Jaehwan was trying to make him jealous to magically realise his till-then-unrealised passion for Sanghyuk then it would mean Taekwoon wasn’t interested in playing that game – because he wasn’t interested in Sanghyuk or because he didn’t like bullshit? Both were equally likely. Was he trying to tell Sanghyuk nicely to give up, which is why he told Jaehwan to back off because there was no point in making him jealous? Or did he mean he _was_ interested in Sanghyuk and didn’t need to play silly games and so was warning Jaehwan off as a way to stake his claim? _God!_ Sanghyuk drove himself crazy every day trying to puzzle it out. At the very least the others had taken the hint and had stopped all their nonsense scheming, and nobody had mentioned the bet in a week, something which Sanghyuk was very thankful for. Maybe life could go back to normal now. Sanghyuk would stop trying to figure Taekwoon out, and the others would leave him alone, and they could all go back to their regular scheduled being-an-idol madness. He would continue to secretly (and safely) crush on Taekwoon, who would continue to treat him like any of his other dongsaengs, and rooming together on overseas trips and seeing him every day and being sat next to each other for fansigns and whatnot wouldn’t be an issue.

Only life didn’t go back to normal. Hongbin was on one of his Park Hyoshin benders which made Wonsik sulky though he maddeningly refused to admit it and they were sniping at each other nonstop; Jaehwan had received an invitation to feature on Immortal Song and so was gone most of the time either practicing or rehearsing, the lack of his antics to brighten up tired days sucking the energy out of the remaining members. And Taekwoon was _avoiding_ Sanghyuk.

“This is all your fault, you know,” Sanghyuk told Hakyeon a week later, curiously feeling rather calm inside about it all. This was, after all, a not-unforeseen result. His worst fears had been realized – Taekwoon had caught on that somehow the others were trying to make him feel something for Sanghyuk and he very clearly felt nothing, which led to him panicking about what to do because Taekwoon was a sincerely awkward turtle.

Hakyeon at least had the grace to look very ashamed. “I didn’t think he’d react like this.”

“Well.”

The door to the bedroom opened and Taekwoon was outlined in the doorway for a moment before he flushed, seeing the two of them, and mumbled an incoherent excuse before retreating and closing it again.

Sanghyuk sighed heavily. “Vixx is going to break up because of this.”

Hakyeon buried his face in Sanghyuk’s stomach in abject apology.

*

Wonsik and Hongbin had gotten over their little spat, and as usually followed one of their fights they were being discovered making out all over the place to the members’ blasé annoyance. Nobody had the real energy to muster up any kind of real protest, this being too common a sight for them to be actually surprised anymore. Nobody, that is, except Taekwoon.

He sat down at the dining table, cheeks flaming and refusing to meet Sanghyuk’s eyes. Sanghyuk sadly ate his ramen, missing his hyung more than he thought he would; it had been nearly two weeks since ‘I don’t play games’ and Sanghyuk was pining, but as it appeared, he didn’t have much longer to wait. Taekwoon messed around with his socks for a few moments, then cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Those two are getting a bit too much,” Taekwoon muttered, and Sanghyuk looked up, startled, checking around to see if Taekwoon was actually talking to him. Hakyeon was vacuuming the bedrooms, Hongbin and Wonsik were presumably sucking face someplace, and Jaehwan was out, so lo and behold!

Nothing else was forthcoming, but Taekwoon had definitely spoken to him. Sanghyuk swallowed and smiled, a big genuine smile that bubbled up out of him helplessly. Maybe this meant Taekwoon was over the whole thing and he was ready to be friends again, able to ignore what Sanghyuk felt for him. It was such a _relief_.

“It should blow over soon,” Sanghyuk laughed softly, and Taekwoon grunted skeptically, eyes flicking up furtively to Sanghyuk’s face. It was futile to pretend like they hadn’t been tiptoeing around each other, Taekwoon sometimes doing a total about-turn when it seemed like he was going to end up alone with Sanghyuk somewhere, but this was good. This was a start.

“That’s all you’re eating?” Taekwoon asked, nodding at Sanghyuk’s bowl.

“It’s okay. There’s nothing else in the fridge anyway,” Sanghyuk answered chirpily, overwhelmingly pleased to finally have his hyung’s attention again. He’d missed Taekwoon’s voice, his eyes on him, his presence.

Taekwoon smiled, and then as if he realized that he was smiling at Sanghyuk smiling at him he quickly stood up. “I’ll make you something. And we have a lot of food in the fridge, you’re just lazy.” He reached over to knock Sanghyuk’s head out of habit, and Sanghyuk didn’t know if he changed his mind at the last minute but instead of a knock Taekwoon ended up trailing his fingers through Sanghyuk’s hair, tousling it and dragging it into his eyes. Sanghyuk made an exaggeratedly annoyed face at him, relishing the tiny smile he got in return.

A crash from one of the bedrooms and Hakyeon’s voice _yelling_ in a nonstop tirade about decency and morals and the virtues of chastity and sexual innocence made them both jump then, Hongbin and Wonsik being forcibly ejected and looking decidedly rumpled coming soon after. Hakyeon followed with the vacuum still scolding, looking like an avenging angel of home cleaning appliances. Taekwoon was blushing again because Wonsik had his shirt on back-to-front and Hongbin was trying to comb down his messy hair, obvious to even the densest person what they’d been doing - who knew what Taekwoon had seen earlier before Hakyeon caught them. Hongbin winked at Sanghyuk who merely rolled his eyes in response and got up to wash his bowl and chopsticks in their small kitchen; Taekwoon came with him to escape the scene in the living room.

“You’re so cute, hyung,” Sanghyuk said, deciding to risk it and act as normal as he dared. “Blushing because of them.”

Taekwoon said nothing but blushed again, darting looks at Sanghyuk as he scrubbed.

“It’s – it’s nice that they have each other,” he finally said.

“Well as far as I’m concerned they can go _have_ each other someplace else,” Sanghyuk retorted, knowing it would make Taekwoon smile.

Taekwoon laughed and blushed _again_ , making Sanghyuk look up at him bemusedly. He put away his bowl and chopsticks and once he was done Taekwoon squeezed the back of his neck gently before shuffling off to his room, clearly forgetting his offer to cook for Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk stood still, watching him go. Long cool fingers against his skin, touching softly – most of all, he’d missed _this_.

*


	2. Chapter 2

Sanghyuk was exhausted – they all were, and sometimes it was nice to be this tired because sleep became so much the sweeter for it. In between the shower and his bedroom his legs decided to stop working temporarily, so he detoured to the couch, just to vegetate and listen to the other five potter around the dorm until everything went quiet enough for him to finally find the will to move and go to bed. It sometimes was a long process, this switching off and winding down.

“What are you doing out here?”

Fingers in his hair – he’d been fantasizing about this, Taekwoon running his fingers through Sanghyuk’s hair and trailing them down his neck, curling around his wrists, splayed against his back or stomach – long elegant fingers scratching gently against his scalp and combing through his still-wet hair before Taekwoon folded himself into the space on the couch next to him.

Taekwoon turned to Sanghyuk and nuzzled lazily into his neck, breathing in deep the scent of soap on skin – the soap they all shared, but Sanghyuk hoped there was something else in the mix Taekwoon smelled that was purely Sanghyuk alone and would stick in his head and make him want more. His heart was pounding at the unexpected contact, one of Taekwoon’s pretty hands smoothing slowly but insistently over his stomach and _holy fuck_ dipping below the waistband of his shorts –

“I’ve been wanting to touch you all day,” Taekwoon murmured into his ear, letting warm breath wash over Sanghyuk’s cheek. The hand slipping into his shorts slid over his still-soft cock, cupping him firmly through his underwear as Sanghyuk made an unfortunate squeaking sound at the contact, heart nearly jumping right out of his chest as he followed the movement of Taekwoon’s hand under his clothes with his eyes, unable to look away. Oh my _god_ – WHAT – Hakyeon hyung – Wonsik hyung – at any minute they could walk in –

“ _Hyung_ -”

“Let me do this for you, Hyuk-ah?” Taekwoon asked, hand slowly massaging and voice soft and low in Sanghyuk’s ear. Sanghyuk’s cheeks were flaming as he finally turned to face Taekwoon in shock and Taekwoon moved in to kiss him, distracting Sanghyuk with his mouth as he pushed himself off from a sitting position and settled between Sanghyuk’s knees, not letting go of Sanghyuk’s cock for a moment.

There was nothing else to Sanghyuk’s brain but a litany of ohmygodohmygodohmygod and arousal so strong he could hardly breathe steadily. It was like being hit by a bus, Sanghyuk thought dazedly, the feel of Taekwoon’s tongue in his mouth and hand on his cock completely blowing his mind. Only he’d never been hit by a bus. But it probably was like this.

Taekwoon let go of Sanghyuk to hook his fingers in the waistbands of his shorts and underwear and pull them down together, Sanghyuk mutely lifting his hips in order to help because _holy shit why not_ and even though he had no fucking clue how and why this was happening it would take a much stronger man than he was to turn down Taekwoon offering to suck him off.

_This is happening. This is actually happening._

“You want this, don’t you? Hyuk?”

Taekwoon’s looking up at him with one of his unreadable expressions, one hand caressing small circles into Sanghyuk’s thigh as Sanghyuk tried to hardwire the sight of his hyung on his knees between his legs into his brain as a permanent memory.

“Yes, hyung,” Sanghyuk managed to say, and to his silent gratification also managed to stop himself from blurting out since when and how desperately he wanted it.

“You’re so worked up already,” Taekwoon smiled. “You’re not going to come immediately, are you? I want to take my time with you.”

Sanghyuk couldn’t help it. He blushed so hard that he had to cover his face with his hands and the last thing he heard was Taekwoon laughing softly before Taekwoon licked the head of his cock.

He is _licking_ \- Taekwoon hYUNG IS LICKING ME – MY – THEre- OH MY FUCKING HELL

Taekwoon really did take his time, slowly licking around the head and sucking gently as he swirled his tongue over, pressing the tip of his tongue into the slit as he held Sanghyuk’s cock steady with one hand. He ran the other hand over the tensing muscles of Sanghyuk’s stomach, running it down one thigh and tugging it to the side to spread Sanghyuk’s legs wider. Sanghyuk let out a sob, thinking how he must look and how _Taekwoon_ must look with his lips wrapped around his dick, and then immediately had to see it for himself instead of imagining it. He slowly lowered his hands and caught his breath at the sight of Taekwoon taking him in deeper, dark almond eyes flicking up to his and holding his gaze as Sanghyuk watched his cock disappear into Taekwoon’s mouth. It was too much.

Sanghyuk let his head thunk back against the sofa and tried to even out his breathing, moaning at that _thing_ Taekwoon was doing with his tongue and feeling his thighs start to tremble. It had been a long day – usually it took him forever to come when he was tired and the release sometimes left him feeling more wound up than before he jerked off, but right then he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to last beyond the next twenty seconds with what Taekwoon was doing between his legs. Taekwoon was sucking firmly, using one hand to pump the base of his cock as he lapped and sucked at the rest of it, rubbing the underside with his tongue till Sanghyuk was moaning uncontrollably and feeling his impending orgasm hurtling towards him with an intensity that was already leaving him breathless. It had hardly been – what – five minutes? – but Sanghyuk thought he could be excused for the sheer reason of being completely bamboozled. 

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk breathed, sliding a hand into Taekwoon’s hair and tugging a little haphazardly. The small moan Taekwoon gave in answer around his cock had Sanghyuk coming almost then and there, swallowing hard. “I’m going to come, hyung, you need to move-”

“Come in my mouth,” Taekwoon pulled off long enough to quickly say and swallowed him down again, deep-throating his cock as Sanghyuk struggled to keep quiet, hips bucking desperately up into Taekwoon’s mouth and feeling his orgasm rip through him from top to toe as he tangled both hands in Taekwoon’s hair. Sanghyuk saw stars as he came, the pleasure surging right through his body and leaving him boneless once he was done.

When he opened his eyes Taekwoon had sat back on the floor between Sanghyuk’s feet, licking his lips. Seeing Sanghyuk was back in the land of the living once more he crawled up to meet Sanghyuk who was dazedly staring at him like he couldn’t believe Taekwoon was real.

“Want to taste yourself?” Taekwoon whispered.

 

Sanghyuk woke up.

Blinking and panting slightly, he immediately looked down between his legs tangled up in his blanket and instead of a couch and an alluring hyung with Sanghyuk’s come on his lips there was only Sanghyuk’s narrow bed, the darkness of his bedroom and Wonsik hyung snoring like a monster from the deep in the next bed as usual and – a sticky mess in his shorts.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sanghyuk groaned in disbelief, trying to get his heartbeat to slow. Wasn’t he supposed to be too old for wet dreams already? Fuck.

He sat up groggily, purposely not thinking about what he’d just dreamt and come hard to, casting around for something to clean himself up with and his questing hand landed on what turned out to be one of Wonsik’s discarded shirts.

“Sorry, hyung,” Sanghyuk murmured unrepentantly, and got to work.

 _Fuck_.

*

Sanghyuk crawled slowly towards Taekwoon on the bed, noting that the tips of Taekwoon’s ears had already gone red from Sanghyuk’s eyes on him. Taekwoon was endlessly pale bare skin unbelievably smooth to the touch spread out under Sanghyuk, one hand nervously clenching the sheets. Sanghyuk loved being taller than Taekwoon because it meant he could effortlessly cover Taekwoon’s body with his own and watch Taekwoon have to tilt his head back to look at him, adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

Sanghyuk took the hand that was fisting itself into the sheets and put it between his legs, making Taekwoon curl his fingers around Sanghyuk's hard cock.

“Tell me how much you like me fucking you,” Sanghyuk whispered, not dropping his gaze and watching the pink immediately bloom on Taekwoon’s cheeks.

“Hyuk-ah,” Taekwoon said in an embarrassed rush, trying to bring up his other arm to cover his face with but Sanghyuk caught him by the wrist and pinned it above Taekwoon’s head.

“Tell me,” Sanghyuk insisted. “Do you like the feel of me inside you?”

Taekwoon nodded, blushing furiously down to his neck and trying to look away.

“How do you like to be fucked the best?”

Taekwoon swallowed and shut his eyes, beginning to pant slightly, and Sanghyuk leant down to tug lightly on Taekwoon’s bottom lip with his teeth. “Tell me, hyung. Do you like it the most when you’re on your hands and knees?”

A tiny frown appeared on Taekwoon’s brow and he swallowed again, still not opening his eyes. Sanghyuk glanced down between them to see if Taekwoon was really in distress – Taekwoon’s cock was so hard it was weeping precome against his stomach. Sanghyuk looked up again, satisfied.

“No,” Taekwoon said softly, eyes fluttering open and immediately closing again when he met Sanghyuk’s gaze. “I – I like it best when I’m – Hyuk-ah do I really have to-”

“You know you’ll like the reward,” Sanghyuk grinned, dropping searing kisses down Taekwoon’s neck.

“When I’m – on top. On you.”

“When you can grind down and fuck yourself on my cock?” Sanghyuk whispered, and felt the fingers around his cock tighten.

“Yes,” Taekwoon pants. “Can we – can I-”

Sanghyuk pushed himself off Taekwoon so that they could swap places, grinning slightly at the pink still dusting Taekwoon’s cheeks and neck contrasting with how hard he was without even being touched. Taekwoon stretched an arm out to grab the small bottle of lube from the floor next to the bed and Sanghyuk took the opportunity to admire how gorgeous his hyung was – lean muscles, long graceful limbs.

Taekwoon held out the lube to Sanghyuk, but Sanghyuk shook his head and settled back against the pillows as Taekwoon straddled him, one possessive hand on Taekwoon’s thigh.

“Stretch yourself. I want to watch.”

 

Sanghyuk’s eyes flew open in the dark. “Shitshitshitshitshit-”

He screwed his eyes shut and desperately tried to go back to sleep, realizing that it was a particularly-loud snore from damn Wonsik that had woken him up. He turned on his side fitfully trying to get comfortable with his achingly hard cock trapped inside his pajama pants, breathing slowly and evenly and thinking calm thoughts. He needed to finish this dream, goddammit, even if it was the most out-of-character ridiculous thing that he’d ever dreamt in his life.

Sanghyuk was wrong, though. The most ridiculous dream he ever had in his life happened to be the one he had when he finally fell asleep again – chasing Wonsik in a yellow diaper playing a trumpet very badly through one of Jeju’s canola flower fields while Hakyeon shouted the chorus to ‘Show me your Bba Sae’ in his ear. No Taekwoon, no sex, and definitely no orgasms for Sanghyuk.

*

At least the dreams didn’t happen every night, or Sanghyuk would have been a complete mess. He figured that he spent so much time when he was awake fantasizing about Taekwoon in various unspeakable positions that at night it was only natural that his subconscious continued in the same trend, though he was pretty sure not everyone had sex dreams of such high quality. He was quite proud of that. Wonsik hyung was getting frustrated with his shirts mysteriously disappearing from the room only to end up in the laundry the day after, though, so Sanghyuk thought it might be a good idea to invest in some boxes of tissue instead of using his hyung’s shirts to clean himself up after particularly satisfying dreams. He supposed he should feel guilty about that. He didn’t.

The rest of the hyungs were all behaving themselves very well – maybe Hakyeon hyung had had a word with them about leaving him alone, but Sanghyuk didn’t know for sure and he really didn’t care. He was just thankful. No more stupid bets and no more stupid scheming. Jaehwan was back to pretending like he was a starving man and Sanghyuk was an all-you-can-eat buffet, Hongbin and Wonsik were still being disgusting and annoying Hakyeon, and Taekwoon hyung was Taekwoon hyung who responded with head knocks and arm locks and amused glares when the younger ones fooled around and was soft with Hakyeon and smiled at Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk really, really liked Taekwoon’s strange toothy smile; he was a sap and completely hopeless, he knew.

“Would you kiss me if we were both stranded on a desert island?” Jaehwan asked, rolling over on the couch and pushing a protesting Hongbin away so that he was crowding Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk elbowed him away to no avail, Jaehwan’s weight keeping him sandwiched against Sanghyuk’s side.

“Depends,” Sanghyuk said without looking up from his phone.

“On what?” Jaehwan grinned up at him, purposely licking his lips and pressing closer.

“If you would leave me alone once I kissed you,” Sanghyuk answered, still not looking up.

“Let’s not pretend this is not something we both want, Han Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan replied dramatically, making it hard for Sanghyuk to keep a straight face. “I know. I can see it in your eyes when you look at me.”

“Disgust?” Sanghyuk gave in and faced Jaehwan, finding him actually alarmingly close.

“Passion!” Jaehwan cried and lunged for Sanghyuk, Sanghyuk instinctively blocking him and trying to push Jaehwan off while trying hard not to break down laughing and let Jaehwan pepper him with kisses or who knew what else. Sanghyuk struggled, turning his face away out of reach of Jaehwan’s pouting lips and searching for a way to knee his beloved hyung in the groin. Suddenly, abruptly, Jaehwan was no longer pressing Sanghyuk into the couch.

“I thought I told you to stop it?”

Taekwoon had his hand fisted in the back of Jaehwan’s shirt, holding him back and away from Sanghyuk, and while his face was as blank as ever his voice was not joking around. Hongbin who had gone to sit on the floor when he'd been dislodged by Jaehwan looked up in surprise. 

“Sorry, hyung, we were just-” Jaehwan started, bemusedly, because Taekwoon hadn’t let him go and Sanghyuk could see something in Taekwoon’s eyes that’s making his heart begin to pound. _Fuck. He’s not – jealous? Fuck!_

Hakyeon called out for Taekwoon from the direction of the kitchen, making Taekwoon finally let go of Jaehwan and walk off without a word.

“What the hell was that about?” Jaehwan straightened his shirt, confused and put out. “We’ve stopped with Hakyeon hyung’s plan, this isn’t about that at all- Am I supposed to ignore your existence or what? Han Sanghyuk, are you listening to me?”

Sanghyuk wasn’t listening to Jaehwan. He was thinking of a simmering Taekwoon, jealous and possessive, pushing him up against a wall and making Sanghyuk forget everything but Taekwoon’s own name (and yes he watched too much trashy porn he was very well aware of that thank you very much).

“It’s going to be a good dream tonight,” he murmured aloud.

*

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'show me your bba sae' is legit the most ridic club song i've ever heard i love it pls go youtube this shit 


	3. Chapter 3

Hongbin sighed as Wonsik began to move, one hand in Hongbin’s hair and the other bracing himself by Hongbin’s head.

“Something’s wrong,” Hongbin said momentarily, small frown on his face.

Wonsik immediately slowed his pace, hips coming to a complete stop as he took in Hongbin’s faraway look.

“What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

Hongbin slid his hands down to Wonsik’s ass and nudged, wordlessly urging him to continue moving before he tightened his legs around Wonsik’s hips.

“I’m fine. I mean Taekwoon hyung and Hyukkie. Something weird happened yesterday, like, right in front of me.”

Wonsik dropped a kiss on Hongbin’s nose and shifted the angle of his hips, instantly rewarded by Hongbin’s fingers digging into his back.

“I love it when you do that,” Hongbin sighed, pressing his head back into the pillow to savour the tendrils of heat roiling through him. “Anyway, Hyukkie and Jaehwan hyung were fooling around like they always do, you know, Jaehwan hyung trying to kiss him and all that and Taekwoon hyung just grabs Jaehwan hyung and yanks him off Hyukkie-”

“Yanks? Really?” Wonsik asked, getting slightly breathless already.

Hongbin narrowed his eyes, his fringe falling over them as his body moved together with Wonsik’s thrusts. “You better not be already close, Kim Wonsik. And yes, yanks, like really grabs his shirt and pulls him off Hyukkie like some jealous boyfriend and went ‘I thought I told you to stop it’ like, really coldly. And I mean, when Hakyeon hyung had Jaehwan hyung practically hanging off Hyukkie because of that stupid plan of his you could tell it wasn’t their normal kidding around, it was obvious - _oh_ -”

“Bin,” Wonsik breathed, burying his head in Hongbin’s neck, hips snapping up faster and more erratically. Hongbin’s eyes fell shut and he let Wonsik hold him close until he came with a gasp, Hongbin thumbing at his nipples to help him over the edge while rolling his eyes internally at how fast Wonsik had come this time. Clearly they needed to do some stamina training.

Wonsik withdrew from Hongbin carefully after lying a few moments in his arms, Hongbin pressing featherkisses into his neck.

“Lucky you’d already made me come,” Hongbin said, earning him a muffled ‘hmph’. “I think that was a new record or something.”

Wonsik reached out and pinched Hongbin’s right nipple hard, Hongbin quickly capitulating. “Okay, okay. It’s not your fault I’m so irresistible.”

“Continue the Hyuk-Taekwoon hyung story,” Wonsik said, ignoring him.

“Oh, right. Where was I?”

“Taekwoon pulled Jaehwannie hyung off Hyukkie and you were saying something about how this fooling around was very different from the fooling around when Hakyeon hyung was making Jaehwan hyung do it.”

“Oh yeah, yeah. Okay so, you could tell the difference, right? When Jaehwan hyung was all over Hyukkie and touching him in ways he doesn’t when they’re fooling around normally? Well, I say normally, but you know what I mean. I can tell the difference, the whole world can, but apparently Taekwoon hyung can’t. He was serious, Wonsik. Like he didn’t know that Jaehwan doesn’t actually have a thing for Hyukkie, that Jaehwan hyung is probably the straightest one out of all of us. You should have seen his face.”

“So what are you saying?” Wonsik asked, reaching out a hand to gently sweep Hongbin’s fringe away from his forehead, Hongbin catching it on its way down and entwining their fingers.

“I don’t know, man. But something’s up. Could it be – do you think Taekwoon hyung could actually be interested in Hyukkie?”

Wonsik frowned. “Yes. And then again, no.”

“Hakyeon hyung would know,” Hongbin mused. “This is amazing. This entire thing started to torture Sanghyuk and now look where we are.”

“Are we bad hyungs?” Wonsik asked, looking worried.

“Of course not,” Hongbin answered, scandalized. “We’re the very best of hyungs.”

*

“Taekwoonie.”

“Taekwoon-ah.”

“Jung Taekwoon.”

“Leoooooooo.”

Taekwoon finally put down his phone in defeat and looked up at Hakyeon, who immediately bounced in delight and scooted over closer to him on the couch, putting his arms around Taekwoon affectionately.

“Hello,” Hakyeon smiled fondly at Taekwoon, who answered with a sarcastic ‘annyeonghaseyo’.

“Taekwoonie, I’ve been thinking,” Hakyeon began, not letting Taekwoon go and beaming at the greeting, sarcasm notwithstanding. “You’ve been rather rude to Jaehwannie lately.”

Taekwoon squirmed out of Hakyeon’s embrace in order to stall, willing himself not to go red. He knew this was coming – there was no way he could have hidden it from Hakyeon of all people, Hakyeon who had superhearing and supersight and was probably omniscient, and if he could present his tangled ball of emotions to Hakyeon as is he would, because there was no way he was going to be able to explain any of it. Let Hakyeon sift through it and untangle it all for him then give him back the strands neat and separated so that he could then decide what to keep and what to repress.

Hakyeon watched Taekwoon take unnecessarily long to answer and decided to just bite the bullet. He was never one for beating around the bush, anyway.

“When are you going to tell him?”

“Tell who?” Taekwoon asked, feigning ignorance and feeling a deep sigh coming on. _Fucking omniscient._

“You know who. Taller than anyone else. Younger than anyone else. That ‘who’.”

“I’ve got nothing to tell him,” Taekwoon replied stubbornly, wanting so badly to get back to texting his sister and locking Hakyeon away in the bathroom or something.

“Are you in denial or just being stubborn?” Hakyeon asked persistently, jiggling him.

“He told me he wanted Jaehwan to stop fooling around like that. It was making him uncomfortable.”

“Him or you?”

Taekwoon glared at Hakyeon out of the corner of his eye, and Hakyeon smiled back sweetly.

“Jaehwan’s not interested in Hyukkie, Taekwoon. You know that. He’s going to kill me for telling you this but he’s been trying to get with his vocal training coach noona for ages. That’s a secret, now.”

“I was just trying to help,” Taekwoon insisted, and Hakyeon fixed him with a stare. Taekwoon refused to back down, staring back until Hongbin who was coming out of the kitchen darted over and blew into Taekwoon’s face, making him blink in surprise.

“What are you doing?” Taekwoon half-got up in order to retaliate, but Hakyeon kept his arms firmly around Taekwoon and dragged him back down to the couch again, if a bit reluctantly because truth be told in his opinion Hongbin did need a good thumping now and again.

“Helping Hakyeon-hyung win your staring contest,” Hongbin said, and Hakyeon made a noise of dissatisfaction in his throat.

“We’re not having a staring contest, stupid child. We are having a discussion of extreme importance. Go make out with Wonsik, why don’t you?”

“Fine, I will,” Hongbin said, and walked off with more dignity than Hakyeon would have been capable of in the same situation. He was impressed.

“Getting back to business,” Hakyeon continued, and Taekwoon slumped in his arms, having both given up on getting Hakyeon to let go of him physically as well as figuratively. “Leave off Jaehwannie, okay? You’re just making yourself look silly. And there is a hundred percent nothing between them.”

“I don’t _care_ what they have between them-”

“Then why don’t you look like you’re ready to kill Jaehwan when it’s Wonsik or Hongbin he’s hugging or kidding around with? Seriously,” Hakyeon scoffed. “You think you’re so lowkey. I saw the look on your face when he kissed Jaehwan that night. Just before he kissed _you_ – I saw your face then, too.”

Taekwoon had woken up the morning after that night with the kiss on his mind. He’d thought about it while getting his morning coffee, while piling his laundry into the washing machine, during vocal practice, while staring at the back of Sanghyuk’s head during meetings with their choreographer. Sanghyuk’s alcohol-laced breath warm on his face as Sanghyuk giggled and swayed on his knees, hands tightening on Taekwoon’s shoulders and the feel of Sanghyuk’s thin wrists underneath Taekwoon’s hands as he instinctively reached out to steady him – and then the quick plush press of Sanghyuk’s lips to his. Up till the point Sanghyuk had actually kissed him he didn’t believe it was really going to happen; Sanghyuk kissing Jaehwan to fool him into thinking Sanghyuk would kiss him too and then faking out at the last minute for a laugh; typical of the stupid jokes and inexplicable things they all did because they were all various levels of Idiot. And then it _happened_ and Taekwoon couldn’t do anything but sit there and blink in shock as Hakyeon came to cart Sanghyuk away and put him to bed. Taekwoon wondered if Sanghyuk remembered kissing him in the morning – sometimes he also imagined Sanghyuk waking up the next day, hungover and still muzzy, but breathing soft and slow and warm in his blankets and pajamas and thinking about what it felt like to kiss Taekwoon. He imagined Sanghyuk wanted to do it, and had smiled secretly to himself; Taekwoon imagined the curve of Sanghyuk’s lips and sleepy eyes and hands curling into the pillow, Hakyeon probably waking before him and going to get him water and an aspirin to nurse his hangover. Sanghyuk was Hakyeon’s baby – he was everyone’s baby, five years younger than him and Hakyeon – five years younger. Taekwoon sighed.

Hakyeon watched Taekwoon sigh and squeezed him one last time before letting him go.

“Tell him,” Hakyeon repeated.

“Tell him what?” Taekwoon stubbornly answered.

*

“Tell him,” Hakyeon urged, pursuing a fleeing Sanghyuk around the house.

“Tell him what?” Sanghyuk stubbornly answered, pretending he had no idea what Hakyeon was talking about. Hakyeon’s eyes narrowed as his resolve seemed to stutter somewhat and he muttered something that sounded like ‘for fuck’s sake, both of you’ under his breath.

Sanghyuk tried to hide in one of the bedrooms but Hakyeon followed him in before he could lock it – Wonsik opened one eye from where he was lying down and trying to nap inside it.

“Save me,” Sanghyuk begged.

Wonsik closed his eye. “No.” Hakyeon crowed in triumph and thanked Wonsik smugly before clamping a hand on Sanghyuk’s arm and dragging him out.

“Will you just trust me and tell him?” Hakyeon demanded, Sanghyuk managing to wiggle himself free and running away to the kitchen, Hakyeon following one step behind. “And for god’s sake stop trying to run away! This dorm is so tiny you _know_ I’ll get you!”

“I’m helping you get enough exercise in your old age,” Sanghyuk sniped back over his shoulder, trying to hide behind their dirty clothes hamper.

“I can see you, Hyuk,” Hakyeon deadpanned.

“No, you can’t.”

“Don’t make me call him out here,” Hakyeon threatened, not having to explain whom he meant. “You two are driving me crazy.”

“Then leave us alone!”

“Do you not want to be happy? Are you allergic to happiness?”

“No, I’m allergic to you.”

“Han Sanghyuk.”

“ _Hyung._ ”

“You’re acting like a kid.”

“I _am_ a kid.”

“I should record this for the next time you try to argue that you’re all grown up.”

“I _am_ all grown up.”

Hakyeon took a deep breath. Why was he voluntarily ageing himself by trying to get these two together again?

“Hyuk, tell him how you feel.”

“What makes you think I want to tell him?” Sanghyuk asked, exasperated. “Why can’t I just let this remain a crush until it dies off? Maybe I like things this way!”

“Even if he likes you back?” Hakyeon countered, raising his eyebrows challengingly.

“What?” Sanghyuk faltered.

“ _Have you not been listening to me?!_ ”

*

“Jaehwan hyung,” Wonsik started, voice low and affectionately attached to his back like a limpet, making Jaehwan waddle around their near-empty music show waiting room. They were too early – almost as bad as being late. “Is the bet off? Because nobody’s said a word about it for weeks and Hyukkie and Taekwoon hyung have been so excessively _nice_ to each other lately, and Hakyeon hyung looks like he’s ready to smack me every time I bring up the subject. He nearly did the other day, too.”

Wonsik lowered his voice even more as Jaehwan wandered close by Hongbin and Sanghyuk trying to dance to 4minute, Sanghyuk overexaggerating the twerking moves until Hongbin was on the floor wheezing with laughter, Hakyeon proudly shouting encouragement from the nearby sofa he was sitting on with Taekwoon.

Jaehwan and Wonsik came to a stop, watching Sanghyuk try to dance and flip non-existent hair over his shoulder, Hongbin scrambling to his feet again to do the chorus with him. Hakyeon was clapping along like a beaming mother watching her child at his first school concert and even Taekwoon hyung was smiling, not usually one to be so outwardly amused by the maknaes’ antics. Hakyeon tried to get him to shout ‘C-R-A-Z-Y’ along with him which Taekwoon predictably refused to but he started to laugh softly once Hongbin and Sanghyuk launched into the chorus steps, Jaehwan also rushing up to do it with them and trying to tug Wonsik along.

Sanghyuk let his hyungs take over, stepping out of the formation in order to fall into a chair near Taekwoon to catch his breath. Taekwoon’s gaze flicked to him momentarily, taking in his flushed face and way he was lounging in his chair – one second, two seconds, three – and then flicked back down to his phone. Sanghyuk played with the arm of his chair for a while, fidgeting – one second, two seconds, three – and then quickly looked over at Taekwoon, watching his long fingers type out a message, face serious in his concentration. Four seconds, five – Sanghyuk got up and wandered over to Hongbin once again.

Anybody else would have noticed – Hongbin, Hakyeon, maybe even Jaehwan. Since it was Wonsik, it all went rather over his head.

*

“Taekwoon hyung giving Hyukkie the last piece of meat at lunch today, did you see? And he _knew_ I wanted it.”

“Mm-hmm,” Hakyeon replied grimly, wiping away his sweat with the edge of his towel as he did three more squats facing Hongbin. “This shit is getting ridiculous and I’m going insane.”

Hongbin looked into the wall-to-wall gym mirror, pretending to check his form as he shifted his hold on the weights he was holding but he was actually spying on Taekwoon and Sanghyuk in the far corner, Taekwoon spotting for Sanghyuk as he did bench presses. Taekwoon said something animatedly – animatedly! – to Sanghyuk when he was done, making him smile in a way that kind of made Hongbin want to throw up.

It must have shown on his face, because Hakyeon snorted. “Yeah. That’s how we mostly feel about you and Wonsik.”

“Why?” Hongbin demanded, deciding to give up on his last few bicep curls. Looking good was so tiring. “At least if we’re disgusting we have a right to be, we’re together. What are _those_ two?”

“Damn frustrating, that’s what,” Hakyeon shook his head, pulling over a mat to start his crunches. “Damn bloody frustrating.”

The door to the gym opened and a few new faces trooped in, all of them pausing their workout to see who else would come in so late at night. The newcomers looked rather taken aback to have chosen a gym full of industry seniors in it but immediately began bowing in greeting, Hakyeon predictably being the first one to recognize which rookie group they were from and greeting them kindly back. There was coincidentally one who used to be a trainee at Jellyfish and Jaehwan hailed him, going over to say hello and to save the others the pain of being scrutinized while the rest of Vixx went back to their weights and machines, clustering closer together to let the rookies have their choice of the machines without feeling like they were imposing. Sometimes it didn’t seem that very long ago that they were rookies themselves.

Sanghyuk sat down without warning on Hakyeon who was now doing pushups, making him fall flat on the mat with an ‘oof’ and then refusing to get up again despite harsher and more desperate threats until Taekwoon grabbed a madly giggling Sanghyuk’s hand to pull him up and save poor Hakyeon’s life before Wonsik and Jaehwan ran over to pile on top of him too. Sanghyuk dropped Taekwoon’s hand the moment he was upright but Hongbin didn’t miss the quick embarrassed look away before Sanghyuk ran his towel through his hair, acting totally fine.

They finished up their respective workouts amidst the usual banter and bickering and pointless showing off, Hongbin and Wonsik competing to see who could do the most sit-ups in thirty seconds and Wonsik cheating shamelessly by trying to distract Jaehwan the timekeeper. It was with their quite impressive wall of noise as the backdrop that one of the rookies shyly approached Taekwoon, gripping something in his hand and trying to respectfully get his attention while at the same time trying not to be obtrusive. Hakyeon nudged Taekwoon, who turned around in surprise.

“Sunbaenim?”

The rookie was young, maybe even younger than Sanghyuk, and he blushed prettily as he told Taekwoon what a big fan he was and how he watched all of Taekwoon’s solo performances and he really wanted to be able to perform like Taekwoon one day, would Taekwoon please sign his debut album it would really mean so much to him? The rest of his members would be so jealous they didn’t come along to the gym tonight when he told them he’d met Taekwoon, and he really hoped to meet Taekwoon around the music shows and stuff if that wasn’t being too rude to say?

Taekwoon turned progressively redder through the rookie’s gushing speech, muttering protests over and over at the boy’s proclamations of Taekwoon’s superior singing talent and how handsomely he performed, clearly embarrassed to the point of nearly grabbing the album from the boy so that he could sign it and be rid of him. Jaehwan and Hongbin were both suppressing giggles as Hakyeon glared at them warningly, while Wonsik looked positively sappy, probably reliving memories of when they were that young and that starstruck by every senior they met. The rookie leaned in for a hug once Taekwoon handed over his signed album – forward, this one – and Hongbin wanted to laugh outright at the stony ‘pretending-nothing-is-wrong’ look on Sanghyuk’s face. _For god’s sake, you both are the same kind of ridiculous._

“Oh, Chansung hyung was talking about you the other day, when we were watching Vixx perform on Music Bank,” the rookie said hesitantly, clearly unsure whether to part with this little bit of information or not about his own company’s senior. “He was saying he missed you and wanted to get in touch. I didn’t know you were friends.”

Taekwoon’s face froze for a moment, a frown appearing immediately after to the rookie’s alarm. “Yeah, okay,” he said, and half-turned away, clearly signaling it was time for the boy’s departure. The boy stood confused for a few seconds until Hakyeon smiled and took charge of smoothing over the awkwardness, a firm hand on Taekwoon’s shoulder for reasons that Hongbin did not know.

They packed up and left, Taekwoon going quieter than usual and sticking to Hakyeon who slung an arm around him and for once wasn’t pushed away. Like a mirror image Hongbin noted Sanghyuk’s slightly hurt aura, soft and flatter like the energy had gone out of him, so he pulled Sanghyuk to him in the van and let Sanghyuk rest his tired head on his shoulder, sweaty skin notwithstanding. Emotions were complicated. So, so complicated.

_Current standings:_

The bet: forgotten? Maybe. Probably?

Members ~~in love~~ in like/crushing on each other and refusing to tell the other one how they feel: 2

Members who know about the members in like/crushing on each other and refusing to tell the other one how they feel: 2

Members who are still mostly clueless about this and about life in general: 2

*


	4. Chapter 4

“Chansung hyung, huh,” Hakyeon murmured as they walked back to their dorm in silence. The ride back had seen Taekwoon steadily staring out the van window with a small frown between his eyes, the younger ones trying without success to involve him in conversation. Through the rearview mirror Hakyeon watched Sanghyuk watch Taekwoon, clearly confused about why his hyung had switched ‘off’ so suddenly when just a minute before he’d been smiling and open. Poor Sanghyuk, Hakyeon found himself thinking. Irrational jealousy because of the rookie – and isn’t that the worst? Knowing you’re being unreasonable but not able to control how you feel anyway – then confusion at Taekwoon subsequently ignoring him. Hakyeon was glad he wasn’t that painfully young anymore. Everything seemed so much bigger, so much more momentous then.

Hakyeon quietly held on to Taekwoon’s arm in an attempt at communicating understanding when an answer wasn’t forthcoming. He wasn’t surprised. There were a lot of things Taekwoon naturally didn’t talk about unless asked, and that didn’t necessarily make him aggressively private or unfriendly; but Chansung was one of those subjects Taekwoon preferred to doggedly avoid. Hakyeon himself had heard only two sentences from Taekwoon on the subject – ‘we had a thing’, and ‘it didn’t end well’, and both of these short phrases were delivered with the most clipped tone Hakyeon had ever heard from Taekwoon. He had no idea what that ‘thing’ encompassed nor why or how it had ended, and truth be told Hakyeon had been too dumbfounded at the time to ask. It was during one of their late-night talks back when they were both still newly-debuted, overtired to the point of insomnia and desperately trying to consolidate friendships to anchor themselves to reality – Hakyeon had been rather insistent on getting Taekwoon to trust him; not just for a week or month or year but for as long as they were in this together, and Taekwoon must have decided to test that trust.

“Have you been with anyone before this? You know Jaehwan had to break up with his girlfriend. I didn’t have anyone officially though I’m sure I must have left a trail of broken hearts behind me somewhere. You?”

Taekwoon had been silent for a while on his side of the thin futon they were sharing before answering. “I was with someone for a few months. You can’t tell anyone about this.”

“I won’t,” Hakyeon promised, reaching out to twine his pinky finger around Taekwoon’s, Taekwoon solemnly returning the gesture. Taekwoon really was adorable sometimes.

“Hwang Chansung. We had a thing. It didn’t end well.”

“Hwang Chan-Chansung? Chansung? You can’t mean – as in 2PM Chansung _sunbaenim_?”

Taekwoon turned over onto his other side to show Hakyeon his back in annoyance, Hakyeon quickly scrambling after him to get him to explain because _holy shit_ but Taekwoon had clammed up and there was nothing Hakyeon could say or do to get any more out of him.

So that was that, Hakyeon had supposed, just another one of Taekwoon’s many onion layers. Only Chansung would still text Taekwoon sometimes in the middle of the night, randomly mention Taekwoon on radio shows or interviews, and every time that happened Taekwoon would withdraw into himself and spend the rest of the day in a strange half-distracted mood that pretty much nothing could get him out of and now this – talking about Taekwoon in front of his company’s juniors like it was nothing to him.

“Do you still have feelings for him, Taekwoon?” Hakyeon whispered later that night when he was sure Jaehwan and Hongbin were asleep.

He saw the glint of Taekwoon’s eyes in the light from the window just before a pillow thumped down on his face. Hakyeon immediately grabbed it to hit Taekwoon back but the bastard blocked, leaving Hakyeon to throw it to the side in a huff.

“I take it that means yes?” Hakyeon asked sardonically.

“That means no, you are very wrong.”

“Why do you let him get to you like this then? All it takes is the mention of his name and you go all growly.”

“I don’t growl,” Taekwoon said, hesitating before giving in with a soft sigh. “I don’t know why I try to keep things from you. You always get it out of me in the end anyway.”

“That’s right,” Hakyeon beamed, proud of himself. “So what is it?”

“He cheated on me. And then pretended like nothing was wrong and I would be fine with him seeing that girl on the side-”

“Oh my god, who was it?”

“No.”

“Jung Taekwoon!”

“No. And shut up, you’ll wake the kids.”

“I cannot imagine this. I literally cannot imagine this.”

Taekwoon shrugged. “It makes me mad when he talks about me or contacts me like we’re okay. We’re not okay. We’re not ever going to be okay.”

“Jung Leo does not forgive or forget,”Hakyeon intoned, imagining the opening to a superhero movie. “Jung Leo wants vengeance. Jung Leo will not rest-”

Taekwoon predictably turned over, signaling their conversation was done.

“Fine, be like that. Think about Hyukkie kissing you, that should cheer you up.” Hakyeon sniped, beating Taekwoon to the pillow Taekwoon had earlier hit him with by a scant second so that Taekwoon couldn’t hit him with it again.

“Cheer up, sourpuss. Goodnight!”

*

The next day dawned bright and cheery and apparently all was well between Taekwoon and Sanghyuk once more, seeing as how Taekwoon was sitting next to him in the waiting room before it was their time to go up and rehearse _watching Naruto_.

“Hyukkie’s got Taekwoon hyung watching anime,” Wonsik whispered to Jaehwan in awe, who then whispered it to Hongbin, who whispered it in turn to Hakyeon after scooting his way over to him on one of the waiting room’s wheeled office chairs.

“It has to be love, hyung. Taekwoon’s watching Naruto with Hyukkie.”

“I know,” Hakyeon smiled beatifically. “I was the one who told Taekwoon he needed to pay a bit more attention to Sanghyuk today. And while he pretended not to listen to me, and even gave me what you and I would call an ‘annoyed scowl’,” Hakyeon made exaggerated air quotes with his fingers, “We can see before us the sweet evidence of him taking my very good advice and laying the path clear for beautiful young love to blossom-”

“Why are you talking like that, hyung?” Hongbin asked, tone flat.

“I’m feeling dramatic. Is that illegal?”

“No, no carry on,” Hongbin rolled his eyes. “At least Sanghyuk doesn’t seem like a wilted balloon like he did yesterday. Poor idiot. Of all the people to have a crush on.”

“Taekwoon is prime crushing-on material,” Hakyeon scolded, feeling the need to defend his friend even though when it came to Sanghyuk he also felt the need to bash his friend over the head. “How many people would watch anime to make the person they like happy when anime is the last thing in life they’d be interested in?”

“Hyukkie’s happy, alright. Taekwoon hyung on the other hand…” Hongbin trailed off, looking in the direction of their youngest passionately explaining something on the screen to Taekwoon who was beginning to look trapped.

Hakyeon shook his head. “Well, he wants to be in this situation.”

“Crazy,” Hongbin mused. “Anyone else would be dating already by this point. At the rate they’re going they’re going to end up like one of those old couples you see on the internet engaged for forty years before getting married at ninety-one and then dying the year after because they wanted to be ‘sure’.”

“Look at you, all concerned for their happiness,” Hakyeon grinned. “Or just concerned about your bet money? Consider this, you’re actually betting that Hyukkie has a really sad sex life if and when they finally decide to get it on.”

“Hyukkie’s bad taste in men has got nothing to do with me,” Hongbin put his nose in the air, struggling to hold back his laughter. “So… the bet’s still on, then?”

“Of course it’s still on,” Hakyeon said, still grinning. “Things have worked out better than I could have planned them myself. You know I’m going to win.”

“We’ll see,” Hongbin said sweetly, and then wheeled himself away.

Hakyeon settled back into his seat in a general bubble of wellbeing, watching Taekwoon patiently try to look as excited as Sanghyuk was over god knows what was happening on the screen of Sanghyuk’s iPad, the two of them sitting closer than they really had to and the adoration practically shining on Sanghyuk’s face every time he turned to Taekwoon. It _was_ pretty disgusting, Hakyeon had to admit. Now if only they would fucking _confess_ to each other like normal logical people –

The door to the waiting room opened and Wooyoung popped his head in beaming his familiar impish smile and Hakyeon perked up, surprised. He liked Wooyoung – he was a great performer and good on variety shows and had been really sweet to him that one time they were on Running Man together, _but_ if there was Wooyoung there was probably –

In trooped Junsu, Junho, Khun and – yes – Chansung, newly back in Korea from a long stay in Japan and for some reason missing Taecyeon. Hakyeon got up to greet them in step with his other members, keeping one eye on Taekwoon who’d stiffened up the moment Chansung had stepped in the room, the shutters falling over his face making Sanghyuk look between him and their seniors curiously. Hakyeon made distracted conversation with Junsu after hugging Wooyoung, Junsu telling him they were making the rounds of the various waiting rooms, getting to know who to look out for. “Sizing up the competition,” Junsu said with a laugh as Wooyoung grinned, Hakyeon unsure how intimidated that was supposed to make him feel. How typically 2PM, Hakyeon thought, half-admiring the straightforwardness of the gesture, but he was unable to really engage because of the need to turn around and see what was going on with Taekwoon.

Junsu and Wooyoung said their goodbyes after a few more minutes of shooting the breeze and left with Nichkhun, Junho calling after Chansung not to take too long and Chansung answered with a noncommittal sound. Hakyeon finally got the chance to look over behind him and had to forcefully tamp down on his need to interfere; Taekwoon and Sanghyuk were sitting down again with Chansung balancing himself on the arm of the couch nearest Taekwoon and talking pleasantly to them, but Taekwoon looked like a spring coiled so tight he was about to break.

Hakyeon found himself admiring Chansung’s guts, to be able to hold a conversation like that while completely ignoring the look of murder on Taekwoon’s face. _If there’s one thing Taekwoon did well_ , Hakyeon thought, _it was holding a grudge_. Sanghyuk looked confused – poor kid, that was an emotion he was feeling a lot these days, it seemed – but was trying to keep up, smiling at Chansung and replying politely even as Taekwoon refused to say a word. Abruptly, Taekwoon put an arm around Sanghyuk and looked up at Chansung wordlessly, Sanghyuk’s last sentence dying on his lips as he turned to look questioningly at Taekwoon. Chansung smiled a small amused smile and got up, nodding at something only he and Taekwoon understood.

 _Holy shit, this is better than any drama,_ Hakyeon thought, Hongbin catching his eye and raising an eyebrow. _Or worse, actually. Now how to protect Sanghyuk from the inevitable fallout?_

“I’ve got to get back,” Chansung was saying, Sanghyuk and Taekwoon getting to their feet too to be polite. “Don’t I get a hug before I go, Taekwoonie? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

 _Oh my god, the balls on this bastard!_ Hakyeon couldn’t help thinking, impressed despite himself. Taekwoon’s gaze flicked to the others in the room, clearly wondering how it would look if he turned Chansung down in case someone was listening. _And how to explain it to Sanghyuk, too_ , Hakyeon added mentally, hands practically itching at wanting to do something to help. Maybe he should call Sanghyuk over now, right now, so whatever Chansung wanted to prove by this would go unseen, let Taekwoon handle it on his own –

But it was too late, Taekwoon stepping forward and Chansung pulling Taekwoon flush against him, Taekwoon’s own arms coming to hover awkwardly on Chansung’s shoulders. It lasted a second, two seconds too long for what was supposed to be a friendly hug, Chansung whispering something in Taekwoon’s ear in a manner that had Sanghyuk looking away.

Taekwoon was left standing there when Chansung turned to leave, saying goodbye to the others, fingers twitching like he wanted to clench his fists. Hakyeon knew that look on his face – he used to have it on a lot when they’d just debuted, that look of a deer in the headlights not sure where to run and fighting against being overwhelmed. He half-turned to Sanghyuk who’d sat down again and was determinedly watching his iPad, face carefully blank, and then looked up at Hakyeon, catching his eye with a mute appeal. Hakyeon jerked his head slightly at the door and got up, Taekwoon following without a word but with a heavy backwards glance at Sanghyuk.

They ended up in one of the bigger bathroom stalls a floor down away from the other waiting rooms, clean and quiet here. Taekwoon sank down against the door into a squat and hid his face in his hands while Hakyeon let him take a few moments, folding his legs up into a comfortable position on the lid-down toilet seat. _The lengths we have to go to get some privacy_ , Hakyeon thought fleetingly, but it felt nice, despite it all. They’d ended up like this more than once in the early days, Taekwoon unable to take the constant camera flashes and always having to put himself out there and needing some time to decompress in the middle of all the madness. Hakyeon almost missed those times. _Almost_.

“I need a smoke,” Taekwoon said, muffled through his fingers, and Hakyeon poked him with the toe of his boot.

“No, you don’t,” he retorted sharply. “No more smoking. Ever.”

“Kill him for me then, Hakyeon-ah,” came the reply, Taekwoon still hiding his face in his hands. “I can’t believe he did that.”

“What did he say to you at the end? Hyukkie did not look happy.”

Taekwoon exhaled, dropping his hands and letting his head hit the door with a soft thump. “Sanghyuk,” he sighed, closing his eyes.

Hakyeon waited, thinking that this was going to be the closest thing to a confession from Taekwoon he was going to get. When it didn’t look like Taekwoon was going to answer him, Hakyeon sighed too.

“I don’t think Sanghyuk expects anything from you, Taekwoon-ah. But he can’t help how he feels. Just be… clear with him?”

Taekwoon opened his eyes a crack to regard Hakyeon for a few moments before speaking, like he was weighing his words. “Hakyeon-ah.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

“What ‘this’ do you think he wants from you? You’re not going to know until you talk.”

“I need a smoke.”

“ _No_. And if I find out you’re bribing the backup dancer hyungs to get cigarettes for you I’m going to tell on you. I don’t care what kind of trouble you get into.”

Taekwoon glared.

“Are you feeling better? We still have some time before we should be called. Go back in and be nice to Hyukkie. He doesn’t know what the hell just happened.”

“Hakyeon-” Taekwoon stopped Hakyeon with a hand on his wrist before they can both exit the stall, and there was something in his voice that made Hakyeon wait patiently.

“He’s – he’s five years younger.”

Hakyeon cocked his head, watching Taekwoon fidget, finally understanding. “He’s not a kid. He’ll be twenty in a few months.”

Taekwoon took a deep breath and shook himself, nodding. “Twenty. Twenty in July.”

“Lighten up, stupid. You’re not proposing marriage,” Hakyeon rolled his eyes, giving Taekwoon a neck chop with the side of his hand. “You like him. He likes you. You do realise that, right? That he likes you? Really likes you?”

It was Taekwoon’s turn to roll his eyes, making Hakyeon shove him. “Do you have any idea how much angst and frustration the both of you have put me through lately?”

“Nobody asked you to play cupid,” Taekwoon protested, shoving Hakyeon back as they bickered down the hall and up the stairs.

When they got back to their waiting room, Sanghyuk was nowhere to be seen.

*

He’d shown up just before they were supposed to go onstage, saying he’d gone to talk to Sungjae. Taekwoon had sent panicked looks Hakyeon’s way, Sanghyuk answering his tentative questions blandly and ignoring him in favour of Hongbin and Jaehwan.

Hakyeon had shrugged exaggeratedly. “Kiss him?” he’d offered, and Taekwoon looked like he was hanging by his last nerve, unable to hit Hakyeon like he wanted to in front of all the producers and cameramen who needed them to do what they did, and fast.

They ran through their rehearsal, Taekwoon forgetting a dance move at the end of the chorus that had him mortified. Embarrassed in front of everyone watching, embarrassed in front of Sanghyuk – and at the thought that Chansung could possibly be sitting out in the audience with the other 2PM members watching them rehearse – fine, Hakyeon had been right. Taekwoon really did want to growl.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a daze of stylists and makeup artists and rushing from one stage to another, rushing on and off, saying hello and goodbye, bundling themselves back into their van, rushing to be the first to bathe and unwind.

“Jaehwan, follow me to the store,” Hakyeon ordered once Jaehwan exited the bathroom, wet hair in his eyes and towel still around his shoulders. “Now. Hongbin, why don’t you and Wonsik come too?”

“But Hyuk and I were going to-” Jaehwan started as Hongbin, always quick on the uptake, went to gather up Wonsik who still hadn’t been able to take his shower yet and hopefully hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch.

“No, we are going to the store,” Hakyeon repeated, smiling but with steel in his voice. Hongbin re-appeared, dragging a sleepy Wonsik with his earbuds in. “Come on.”

“Why isn’t Taekwoon hyung coming too-” Jaehwan was cut off as Hakyeon took the towel from him, roughly rubbed his head with it a few times and threw it in the general direction of the dirty clothes hamper in the kitchen.

A bemused Jaehwan was pushed into his shoes and out the door, the other two close behind as Taekwoon saw them out, Hakyeon sending him urgent eyebrow signals as Taekwoon turned so red with self-consciousness his face was nearly glowing.

The door closed behind them with a soft bang as Taekwoon took a deep breath, turning around just as the door to Sanghyuk’s and Wonsik’s room opened and Sanghyuk bustled out of it, pulling on a black hoodie.

“Wait, are you going to the-” he stopped mid-sentence, seeing only Taekwoon standing in the doorway cluttered with four pairs of shoes less than there should be. “Oh. They’ve gone.”

Sanghyuk fished out his phone from his shorts pocket as he turned around to go back into his room, obviously going to text one of the others to bring back what he wanted. Taekwoon watched him go with alarm rising in his stomach, wondering why his mouth wasn’t working. If he didn’t take this chance Hakyeon’s going to kill him when he got back.

“Hyuk-ah,” he started, and Sanghyuk took a step back from just inside the bedroom, fingers moving without looking at the screen of his phone as he looked at Taekwoon and waited, insufferably blank.

“I think – I think I need to explain what happened just now,” Taekwoon said.

“What?” Sanghyuk asked, Taekwoon’s voice too soft. Taekwoon cursed internally.

“I said, I need to explain to you what happened in the waiting room just now. With – with Chansung sunbaenim.”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Sanghyuk shook his head, making as if to go back inside the bedroom again. “I think I get it.”

“No, Hyukkie,” Taekwoon said, taking a few awkward steps forward and wondering if they were going to do it standing up and staring at each other in the middle of the house like this. “I – we – fuck.”

Sanghyuk’s eyes widened slightly, never having heard his hyung swear before. “It’s okay, really,” Sanghyuk said quickly, retreating further. “It’s not my business.”

Taekwoon took another few too-quick steps forward, feeling like all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and wishing everything in his brain could be input somehow into Sanghyuk’s so that he wouldn’t have to go through the painful process of explaining how Chansung was his ex – his face reddened even further, it had to be a new record – and how none of what had happened just now was probably what Sanghyuk thought. His heart was pounding too fast, because this was it – this was confronting feelings and putting them all out in the open time. There was a chance, maybe a small chance but a chance still that both him and Hakyeon had been wrong and Sanghyuk didn’t like him. Not that way, or not enough to want to get involved in all this mess of emotions, not enough to want – a relationship? He wasn’t sure what he himself wanted, how it was going to be possible for them to do this.

While Taekwoon was lost in his head Sanghyuk stood there waiting, not knowing exactly what to do. Taekwoon obviously had something to say although Sanghyuk was pretty sure it was something he didn’t want to hear. He felt like laughing at himself. What a prize idiot, getting his hopes up despite everything he’d told Hakyeon about being happy that this was just a crush and that it would blow over soon, when all along Taekwoon had been with someone else. How could he have not known? Taekwoon must be a master of keeping secrets, or the rest of them had just made sure not to ever let Sanghyuk find out. He thought of Hakyeon urging him to confess to Taekwoon and felt a bitter surge of betrayal, wondering what the point of that was supposed to be if Hakyeon had known about Taekwoon and Chansung all along. And he was sure Hakyeon did know, because Hakyeon and Taekwoon had left together after Chansung had gone and Sanghyuk saw the looks that had passed between them. Hakyeon was probably – probably going to stand lookout for them as they made out in a bathroom somewhere or something – No, Sanghyuk was not hurt. Sanghyuk was _mad_.

“You know what, hyung? What I don’t get was why you were so nice to me this past week,” Sanghyuk began hotly, finding the gall in him somewhere to shake a finger at Taekwoon. Taekwoon blinked.

“Spending time with me every day, _smiling_ at my stupid jokes, putting – putting your arm around me and letting me play with your fingers and shit,” Sanghyuk swallowed, face heating up. “Showing me the lyrics you were writing, acting all shy. Wow, I can’t believe you,” Sanghyuk advanced on Taekwoon, Taekwoon mutely backing up in shock at this sudden turn-around.

“And what the hell was that, hyung, putting your arm around me and pulling me close just now in front of Chansung sunbaenim? Your _boyfriend?_ ”

“He’s not my-” Taekwoon started, appalled, and stopping because he just couldn’t say it. “Han Sanghyuk, _shut up_.”

Sanghyuk scoffed, warming up to his theme. “No, hyung. If you didn’t like me back – yeah, I like you. I like you a lot. And I may have been a little too obvious, but if you weren’t okay with that I figured you wouldn’t have been so nice to me. But if you didn’t like me back you should have told me. You should have said something.”

“I didn’t want to assume anything!” Taekwoon protested, wondering what the hell was going on. “Hakyeon said-”

“ _Hakyeon hyung?_ ” Sanghyuk repeated in disbelief. “Oh, this is great. This is just great. Remind me never to tell him anything ever again.”

“Hyuk-ah, will you just listen to me?”

“I have made a fool out of myself,” Sanghyuk said evenly, raising his head and trying for some dignity. “Now if you’ll excuse me I will just go and drown myself in the toilet.”

“I like you too, you punk!” Taekwoon burst out in exasperation. “Why are you being so annoying?”

“Oh, I’m annoying now, am I? You – wait. What?”

“I _like_ you,” Taekwoon repeated, feeling like the biggest fool in the northern hemisphere because he was beginning to sweat in the tiny cramped corridor and he had been taken by complete surprise by Sanghyuk flaring up like that, and now he wasn’t sure of anything anymore. But Sanghyuk had said he liked him. That was good, right? “Isn’t it obvious?”

“You are a piece of work, hyung,” Sanghyuk said. “Remember what you said, ‘I don’t play games’? Well, I’ve decided that neither do I. I don’t share either.”

“Share?” Taekwoon asked, voice getting louder in his frustration. “Share what?”

Sanghyuk turned around and made to shut the door in Taekwoon’s face but Taekwoon was faster, holding the door open and pushing inside even though he wasn’t really sure what was going on.

“Sanghyuk, seriously.”

“So what am I? Your bit on the side?”

Taekwoon shook his head in disbelief, finding he was rapidly running out of words. Sanghyuk was frowning, pushing his hair out of his eyes and looking very tired. Taekwoon took a deep breath.

“Sanghyuk. Chansung sunbaenim is not my – my boyfriend. Not anymore. We used to be together for a short time but since we broke up he likes riling me up. Doing things like earlier this afternoon on purpose. I made the mistake of trying to one-up him by putting my arm around you to – I’m sorry, it was a stupid mistake, but to sort of show him I’ve moved on, and he retaliated. He’s much better at this game than I am.”

Taekwoon took another deep breath. That horribly humiliating part was over, at least. “I like you. I’m sorry I didn’t know how to say it before this. But I – I wasn’t sure what to do about it.”

Sanghyuk was quiet for a long while, shifting from one foot to the other. “Oh.”

“Oh? That’s all?” Taekwoon asked incredulously.

“I’m feeling very stupid right now, hyung. Let me die slowly in peace.”

“Good,” Taekwoon replied, and then didn’t know what else to say.

“So,” Sanghyuk said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Mm,” Taekwoon agreed, catching the shifting-from-one-foot-to-another disease from Sanghyuk. “Did you – did you manage to text one of them to buy, uh, what you wanted?”

“Oh,” Sanghyuk said, taking out his phone and examining it with interest like he was seeing it for the first time. “Yeah. I’ll do it now. Do you want anything too?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“Okay.”

“Um, I was going to heat up some of the leftover pizza, do you want some?”

“I can’t eat pizza, hyung. Unless you take off all the cheese.”

“Oh – oh right. Sorry. Of course, I know that. Don’t know why I asked.”

“Yeah.”

“So I’m just going to – the kitchen.” Taekwoon gestured with his hands behind him, and Sanghyuk nodded, a little too enthusiastically.

“Oh, sure. You go ahead, hyung. Enjoy your pizza.”

“Okay. I’ll be – I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Right.”

Taekwoon spun on his heel and left the room faster than normal speed, and Sanghyuk sank down onto his bed before burying himself under every single blanket and pillow the room contained.

*

“Boys, we are about to see the fruits of a year of betting and speculation,” Hakyeon announced in a hushed voice as they walked up the steps to their dorm. “We’ve been gone long enough, right? They should be done, right? Get ready your money, Hongbin-ah.”

“Hyung, they’re not going to jump into bed with each other right off the bat,” Wonsik scoffed, and Hakyeon made a face.

“I know _that_ , can’t you tell I’m joking? Anyway, there should be _some_ kind of developments or I’m going to cut Jung Taekwoon up into small pieces and feed him to all the neighbourhood strays.”

The first thing Hakyeon saw when he entered the house in anticipation was Taekwoon sitting on the couch and munching on what looked like pizza with a faraway look on his face. The four of them halted, peering out one behind one another as they tried to see why Hakyeon had stopped so abruptly.

“Taekwoon-ah, what are you doing?”

Taekwoon looked up, still seemingly deep in thought. “Eating yesterday’s pizza.”

“ _Alone?_ ” Hakyeon asked meaningfully, impatient eyebrow raised.

“Hyukkie’s lactose-intolerant.”

Hakyeon didn’t take his baffled stare off Taekwoon as he walked further into the house, trailing Wonsik, Hongbin and Jaehwan like baby ducks following their mother.

“Where’s Hyukkie?” Wonsik ventured, and Taekwoon looked at him like he’d only just realized Wonsik was there.

“He’s in his room,” Taekwoon said, adding redundantly, “He didn’t want pizza.”

Hakyeon and the three of them trooped over to Sanghyuk and Wonsik’s bedroom, Hakyeon opening the door gently only to be greeted by the sight of a mountain of pillows and blankets with Sanghyuk’s feet sticking out one end.

“Sanghyuk?”

At that a hand wormed its way out of the mountain and pulled away one pillow, revealing Sanghyuk’s face looking extremely serious. “Did you buy me my chocolate, hyung?”

Hakyeon was at a loss for words. He looked at Hongbin who shrugged, looking equally at sea. Wonsik went to sit down on his bed, tugging Jaehwan along with him, and they started digging Sanghyuk out.

“What happened?” Hakyeon finally asked once the whole fossil of Han Sanghyuk had been excavated, him and Hongbin sitting cross-legged at the foot of Sanghyuk’s mattress. Hakyeon feared the worst, seeing how both Sanghyuk and Taekwoon looked like they’d been bulldozed.

“Well. He told me he likes me,” Sanghyuk started, still lying in the same position they found him in as if something was paralyzing him, biting off some of his chocolate bar. “I told him I like him, too. And I know what happened between him and Chansung sunbaenim.”

“What happened between him and Chan-” Jaehwan asked immediately, only to be elbowed into silence by Hongbin.

Hakyeon frowned. “That’s good? That’s… not good?”

Sanghyuk grabbed at the pillow Wonsik was holding in order to cover his face with it but Wonsik held on tight. “You’re not getting chocolate on this!”

“Sanghyuk, tell me what the hell is going on, please?” Hakyeon demanded, patience wearing thin. “Taekwoon is out there staring into space eating pizza by himself and you’re doing god knows what in here with all these pillows, and you tell me that you both confessed that you like each other? What are you _doing?_ ”

“It’s embarrassing,” Sanghyuk muttered, trying to burrow into Wonsik’s lap like an oversized worm.

“Embarrassing?” Hakyeon exploded as Hongbin began to ‘awwww’ mockingly, Jaehwan starting to laugh so hard Wonsik had to thump him on the back. “What are you both, ten?”

“Hyung,” Hongbin was saying, a wheezing Jaehwan clinging on to him for support. “Me and Jaehwan completely win this bet, hyung, we’ve totally won it, they don’t even dare stay in the same room after confessing, what do you think-”

“What bet!” Sanghyuk sat up instantly, face red. “What bet!”

Hakyeon closed his eyes in consternation, Hongbin snapping his mouth shut at the look on Sanghyuk’s face.

“Oops.”

“I can’t believe you!” Sanghyuk sprang to his feet and walked out, grabbing his hoodie from earlier. Hakyeon decided to murder Hongbin later; catching Sanghyuk was first priority. The four of them followed at Sanghyuk’s heels like four very annoying shadows, Hongbin apologizing up a storm as Hakyeon rained down entreaties on Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk ignored them all.

“Hyung, come on. Get your wallet and keys.”

Taekwoon looked up in surprise at Sanghyuk’s voice coming from over by the door, Sanghyuk himself already putting on his shoes. “Me?”

“Yes, you, hyung. We’re going out.”

“All of us?” Taekwoon blinked, looking at the other four standing uncertainly in the living room in a clump.

“Nope. Just you and me. Alone. Come on.” Sanghyuk opened the door and went out, leaving Taekwoon to abandon the rest of his pizza and hastily brush off the crumbs from his hands on Jaehwan’s shirt, Jaehwan too amazed by the current proceedings to protest too strongly. He grabbed his wallet, checked how much money he had in it, shoved his feet into a pair of Wonsik’s sneakers and Hakyeon wordlessly handed him Hakyeon’s own keys. The door shut again behind Taekwoon, and the dorm was silent.

“Well, that’s good, right?” Hongbin said slowly, and Hakyeon just glared.

*

“They’ve been gone the whole night,” Jaehwan muttered, the four of them piled together under their blankets the next morning like huddling together as one curious mass would help them somehow magically find out what Sanghyuk and Taekwoon were up to.

“He’s not going to tell Taekwoon about the bet, is he?” Wonsik asked for the hundredth time, Hongbin lying on his chest on his left and Jaehwan snuggling in to his right, Hakyeon half-sitting up and resting his tired head on Jaehwan’s arm. “We’re really all dead if he does.”

“I need to know what they’re doing,” Hakyeon stared unseeing at Wonsik’s blanket with little spaceships on it. “They can’t do this to me.”

“What if they’re-” Hongbin ventured, making meaningful waggles with his eyebrows only to get hit by Hakyeon.

“Your speaking privileges have been revoked for the foreseeable future, Lee Hongbin,” Hakyeon reminded him sternly. “No talking.”

They were all seated morosely around the living room floor crunching cereal and milk when the front door opened an hour later and Taekwoon and Sanghyuk came in, looking for all the world like they’d just stepped out for a few minutes to run down to the store.

“Good morning,” Sanghyuk said pleasantly, toeing off his shoes and following Taekwoon into the dorm proper. “You’re just eating breakfast? It’s a bit late, we have a schedule soon don’t we?”

Taekwoon walked off without a word in the direction of the bathroom, but it was his normal nonspeaking self that didn’t feel the need to announce his every thought and deed to the world, not the dazed blinking self of the night before. Sanghyuk shrugged off his hoodie and went to the kitchen to look for something freshly-laundered to change into, the four of them belatedly springing into action once they’d gotten over their surprise.

“Hyukkie!”

“What, hyung?” Sanghyuk half-turned, rifling through the drying clothes on the rack to find a shirt dry enough to wear. It didn’t really matter what, since it was a photoshoot they were going for and he was going to spend the day in sponsored outifts anyway, but he’d prefer if he didn’t have to sit for forty-five minutes all the way to the photographer’s studio in damp clothes.

“What? _What?_ ‘What’ is exactly what I want to know,” Hakyeon flustered, feeling somewhat wrongfooted at Sanghyuk being all calm and collected despite staying out all night and doing god knows what with Taekwoon, a man five years his senior and with unidentified intentions towards Hakyeon’s baby, Hakyeon’s darling precious child – Hakyeon felt the need to slap himself mentally. He was going crazy.

“Where did you two go?” Wonsik chimed in.

“We walked around for a bit,” Sanghyuk said, shaking out a shirt that definitely didn’t belong to him. “Then we checked into a motel for the night.”

Jaehwan’s gasp was mirrored by Hakyeon’s own, Wonsik and Hongbin wearing identical scandalized looks.

“A _motel_?” Jaehwan squeaked.

“Sanghyuk, are you insane? The last thing we need is for some Dispatch paparazzi to catch the both of you checking into a seedy motel for the night, oh my _god_ -”

“It wasn’t very seedy. And there was no one around, trust me.”

“Hyukkie, are you saying – are you trying to say you and Taekwoon-” Hakyeon began, Hongbin gripping his arm with fingers that were beginning to dig in painfully.

Sanghyuk casually stripped off his shirt to change into the fresh one, and Hakyeon couldn’t help but give his body a quick once-over for hickeys.

“Are you saying you are no longer a – a, a child?” Hakyeon whispered, unable to bring himself to say the v-word.

“Hyung, seriously,” Sanghyuk laughed, pushing past them to get out of the kitchen but Hakyeon grabbed him and made him stop.

“Sanghyuk, don’t play with me. Did you and Taekwoon -? Did you?”

Sanghyuk gave a little one-shouldered shrug with a short laugh in answer, and the four of them all clapped hands to their mouths, eyes going wide.

“Oh my god,” Jaehwan said, feeling around with his other hand for one of the kitchen stools they kept in a corner. “I need to sit down.”

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon gasped, and pulled his youngest to him, holding him tight. “How do you feel? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, hyung,” Sanghyuk squirmed out of the embrace, laughing a little self-consciously. “Things are fine. Stop making such a big deal out of it.”

“Stop making such a big deal-! It _is_ a big deal, you idiot, how can you even say that-”

“Hyuk-ah,” Hongbin started, voice a little hollow, now clutching Wonsik after being shaken off by Hakyeon, and Hakyeon could see what Hongbin was going to say marching in the direction of the conversation from a mile off. “I’m so sorry, Hyukkie, but you have to tell us,” he paused, wetting his lips. “How was it?”

The four of them went absolutely quiet, so quiet you could hear the tiniest pin drop, and even Hakyeon couldn’t find it in him to tell Hongbin off now that the moment of truth they never thought would come was finally here. Hundreds of thousands of won, months of scheming and obsessing – yes, obsessing, he could admit that now – and a chance they never thought would actually come for them to really find out who was right and who was wrong. It didn’t even seem like the money was that important anymore; they just had to _know_. Hakyeon’s heart was pounding.

Sanghyuk was still for a while, and then he shrugged once more, smiling, and turned and walked off.

“Sang- Sanghyuk?” Hakyeon croaked in disbelief, watching him disappear into his room and carefully close the door as Hongbin’s jaw dropped, Jaehwan and Wonsik both staring after him like they’d been turned to stone.

“Han Sanghyuk!” Jaehwan roared once the power of speech had returned to him, but Hakyeon just dropped his head into his hands in defeat. They’d been played, and played good.

*

(What actually happened:

They had gone to a sauna and Sanghyuk had made lamb hats for both of them, Taekwoon manfully wearing his and letting Sanghyuk take as many photos as he wanted. Taekwoon had bought them hardboiled eggs and they’d picked the coolest and emptiest room, Sanghyuk forging through his self-consciousness and grabbing Taekwoon’s hand to hold. Taekwoon could have passed his blush off on the heat of the room, only it wasn’t that hot. Sanghyuk was pretty sure he was blushing too, looking at Taekwoon’s long fingers entwined with his in his lap.

They sat in their little corner and played twenty questions, and another word game, until Sanghyuk realized that there was nothing left to be embarrassed about. He still enjoyed teasing Taekwoon until Taekwoon looked like he was going to strangle Sanghyuk and he still liked the sound of Taekwoon’s soft voice and Taekwoon still looked amused at the things Sanghyuk prattled on about, breaking into dance or song and getting shy when Sanghyuk was embarrassing.

They’d gotten sleepy around two am, Sanghyuk fighting off huge yawns, and so Taekwoon had gone to find them two mats they’d joined together so they could nap. Sanghyuk wouldn’t have minded going to sleep with Taekwoon’s arm around him hugging him close, but obviously they couldn’t, and Sanghyuk wasn’t sure if he could have slept a wink like that anyway when holding hands alone felt like it was enough to bowl him over permanently. So they lay down face to face, whispering until Sanghyuk couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. Taekwoon raised a tentative hand to Sanghyuk’s face and smoothed down his hair, fingers gently caressing until he was cupping Sanghyuk’s cheek, rubbing slowly with his thumb.

“Goodnight, Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon whispered, blinking slowly.

“Goodnight, hyung,” Sanghyuk answered, smiling sleepily. “Oh, by the way, if the other hyungs ask you what we did tonight don’t tell them, okay? They’ve meddled enough.”

Taekwoon hummed his agreement, gaze lingering on Sanghyuk’s lips for a moment. He could wait. Everything could wait for tomorrow.)

*


End file.
